Earlier this summer, we noticed a wave of museum workers filing union petitions. That infiltration of the art world wasn’t simply a passing trend. The NLRB recently began posting notices of union elections after the federal government reopened, and 900+ workers at NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art petitioned to join the United Auto Workers. Meanwhile, workers from at least four other cultural institutions–Detroit Institute of Arts, Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, National Museum of Mathematics in NYC, and Adler Planetarium in Chicago–petitioned for union votes to join AFSCME.
The organizing employees include guest service workers, educators, technologists, curators, volunteer coordinators, and more, and it’s worth looking at what makes museum workers seek third party-representation.
Economic Realities and Career Sustainability
This first point won’t be too surprising. Many union campaigns catch fire when workers feel that compensation isn’t keeping up with the cost of living, and museum employees’ beliefs on the subject are no different.
To complicate matters, advanced degrees and specialized skills are often required for careers in the art and culture realm. These workers can also grow disillusioned over the reality of pay structures tied to grant funding and shakier job security than comparable professional fields. It doesn’t help that most museum jobs are based in cities with a high cost of living.
To that end, 300 hundred LA County Museum Of Art workers are supposedly “struggling with wages that have not kept up with the rising cost of living in the sixth most expensive City in the world.” These workers claim to be carrying heavier workloads and more responsibilities without raises to complete the $700 million David Geffen Galleries while facing budget constraints. Similar sentiments are at work for the 900 NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art workers, who apparently believe that the United Auto Workers are somehow equipped to represent them.
Yes, that’s a headshaking idea to behold, not only due to differing industries but because the UAW specializes in false promises about job security. Yet this is evidence of a disconnect between workers and their employer, and for these workers, their concerns run deeper than wages.
Workplace Transparency, Equity, and Mission
We’ve talked before about how so-called “progressive” employers like Starbucks are experiencing organizing drives after unions created the organizing mantra that the company was not “practicing values that they espouse.” The same goes for the arts, where workers tend to be younger, left leaning, and more receptive towards Big Labor’s toolbox of strategies. They are also hyperaware of any decisions that they feel compromise a museum’s mission and integrity.
This week, the Detroit Institute Of Arts Workers expressed that they are unionizing because they seek “a fair, transparent, and respectful workplace that aligns with the values the museum shares with the community.”
Museums publicly champion social justice and equity as well as community engagement, and even when workers feel passionate and aligned with their institution’s mission, they can become disillusioned over inconsistent policies and ambiguous budget cuts as well inequity in pay. If there’s a disconnect between a workplace’s external values and internal practices, these workers become vulnerable to third-party interference.
Conclusion
As with every other industry, museum workers want transparent communication about compensation and professional development, but ultimately, these workers feel compelled to unionize when they believe, or are encouraged to believe that internal practices threaten the mission they’re dedicated to advancing.
Those employers who are proactive rather than reactive about workplace concerns will find that they are better equipped to align their institutions’ missions with workers and guests alike. If museum leaders are successful at maintaining direct relationships with their workers, these institutions will not only stay away from the bargaining table but will also be better equipped to serve their mission and their communities. That’s a win-win.
