Posts tagged museum
Denver Art Museum workers will form union to combat wage, safety concerns
January 16, 2024 // Denver Art Museum officials confirmed that they received a request this morning for voluntary recognition of a union from “some members of its staff.” “The museum is aware that unionization among museums has been occurring more frequently in the US and is open to working with its employees to explore the best path forward,” wrote communications manager Andy Sinclair. “If unionization is the path they choose, the museum will work within that system.
After walkout over wage dispute Friday, union workers at MASS MoCA say strike is possible
December 19, 2023 // On Friday, union workers at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts held a walkout calling for higher wages amid ongoing contract negotiations with the museum. Employees voted to unionize with UAW Local 2110 more than two years ago over complaints about working conditions, compensation, benefits, and more. While the union hammered out its first contract with MASS MoCA last December, the three-year agreement didn’t finalize a plan for wage increases for workers — leading to new rounds of negotiations this fall. Reached for comment by WAMC, the museum said that “we continue to carry forward both a spirit of optimism, and our commitment to bargaining as a mutual responsibility,” and that “MASS MoCA looks forward to continued negotiations, to maintain, in good faith, the commitment of elevating our employees while sustaining MASS MoCA’s community and culture through our mission and work together.” Local 2110 representative Chelsea Farrell tells WAMC that a strike isn’t off the table as talks continue.
Workers at Tacoma Art Museum vote unanimously to unionize
November 21, 2023 // With the vote, the union will join the Washington Federation of State Employees, [AFSCME Council 28/WFSE] part of the nationwide American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents some 10,000 cultural institution workers nationwide. Significant about TAMWU’s bargaining unit is the inclusion of employees from multiple museum departments. Museum workers across the country have struggled to bargain as a whole and have been split into separate unions. Often, workers at museums are separated into unions based on positions, like the security guard union at the Seattle Art Museum and at the Frye Art Museum.
El Milagro workers cite gains, but why is no union involved?
August 1, 2023 // For around two years, workers at the tortilla manufacturer have waged a brave campaign for higher wages and better treatment. With help from the advocacy group Arise Chicago, they have had news conferences and briefly walked off the production lines to make their case. They also hauled the company before the National Labor Relations Board. And they have cited victories, including a wage increase, an end to illegal seven-day workweeks and other improvements. But it has all happened without the discernible involvement of a labor union. El Milagro would seem a worthy target for a union drive. It has about 450 employees and has been in business for decades. But one union leader, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss sensitive issues, said organizers may see it as a low-margin business with lots of competition.
Storm King Art Center Recognizes Workers’ Union Following an Overwhelming Vote in Favor of Organizing by Staff
June 30, 2023 // “We are thrilled to welcome the workers of Storm King Art Center into our CSEA family,” CSEA southern region president Anthony M. Adamo said in a statement. “Not only do these workers have the support of their fellow CSEA members in the Hudson Valley and across New York State, they are also part of a strong coalition within our international union AFSCME known as Cultural Workers United, which allows them to connect and collaborate with other cultural workers organizing their workplaces.” Other museums with AFSCME units include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where a wall-to-wall union, formed in 2020, reached a contract agreement in October following a 19-day strike. The nation’s ranks of unionized museums and arts institutions have swelled in recent years, especially since 2020. Storm King workers began organizing last August, following the announcement of a $45 campus revamp, expected to be completed in 2024, the Art Newspaper reported.
Changing institutional culture from the inside out: why more and more US museum workers are forming unions
May 19, 2023 // Organising efforts at Storm King, the PMA, the Hispanic Society and elsewhere reflect a trend that has been growing in the US art and heritage sector over the course of the past five years and accelerated with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Workers at more than 20 institutions have formed a union since 2020 or are actively in negotiations for their first contract, including the Jewish Museum and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and Mass Moca in Massachusetts. In March, after 16 months of negotiations, workers at the Whitney Museum of American Art, who had formed a union in spring 2021, ratified their first contract. State of the unions: why US museum workers are mobilising against their employers Tom Seymour The issues prompting workers to form unions across the country and across a broad range of industry sectors are remarkably consistent: wages, benefits and working conditions. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of wage and salary workers who belonged to a union in 2022 was 14.3 million, a 1.9% increase on 2021.
Museum of Science and Industry workers look to unionize
April 14, 2023 // Organizers say their goal with unionizing is to win increased pay, improve professional development opportunities, and improve overall workplace health and safety protocols.
Union Workers at Hispanic Society Begin Strike Over Stalled Contract Negotiations
April 4, 2023 // The union is seeking, among more, a 5 percent retroactive wage increase, guaranteed future wage increases, and guaranteed minimum salaries for all union positions, ranging from a $52,000 to $95,000, “depending on the salary grade of the position, and on par with other museums in the city.” A major point of contention is the health insurance, which the Society used to pay in full. Their latest offer asks that employees cover between 2.5 percent and 12.5 percent of their premium, based on income, while the union insists that the Society pay the entirety of both premiums and deductibles. (The Society’s statement notes that UAW Local 2110 works with other New York City cultural institutions where employees contribute to their healthcare.)
Notebaert Nature Museum workers urge support for union
March 27, 2023 // Unions typically need to show via signed cards support from a substantial majority of workers before scheduling an election with the National Labor Relations Board. An employer can voluntarily recognize a union, but most want an election that will give them time to make anti-union arguments to the workers. While known for representing government workers, AFSCME also counts more than 10,000 members at museums nationwide.
Art Museum workers continue strike into second week
October 6, 2022 // In the week since the strike began, there have been no negotiations between workers and management. After two years of negotiating, the union called a strike on September 26 when management came to the table with an offer to raise wages an average of 8.5% in the first 10 months of the contract, and 11% by July 2024, among other benefits such as four weeks of paid parental leave and accelerated eligibility for new employees to access medical coverage.