Staff on the Higher East Aspect’s Metropolitan Museum of Artwork voted to unionize final week, citing issues about workloads, pay fairness, job safety, and “transparency about employment policies.”
Photograph by way of Getty Photos
Staff on the Higher East Aspect’s Metropolitan Museum of Artwork voted to unionize final week, citing issues about workloads, pay fairness, job safety, and “transparency about employment policies.”
The vote handed with a 76% margin, with 542 votes in favor, 172 votes towards, and 100 ballots that stay sealed as a result of the museum “objected to inclusion of these staff in the union,” based on a Jan. 16 announcement from the union.
The historic vote follows a petition by workers in November to create a union and 4 years of organizing. The brand new union, a part of United Auto Staff Native 2110, represents practically 1,000 workers, making it one of many largest museum unions within the nation.
Metropolitan Museum of Artwork is “committed to supporting” its employees
In a press release to New York News, a Met spokesperson wrote that the museum has “long been committed to supporting its exceptional staff with highly competitive salaries and benefit packages that surpass industry standards; robust professional development opportunities; and a culture that values inclusivity, creativity, collaboration, and excellence.”
“We are proud of our well-established history of working together with DC37 and Local 306 IATSE, and look forward to engaging with the UAW as we pursue The Met’s mission to connect all people to creativity, knowledge, ideas, and one another,” the spokesperson wrote.
The spokesperson didn’t reply to an inquiry concerning the museum’s problem of 100 worker ballots.
The eligibility of those workers “will be determined through a mutually agreed upon arbitration process after the union is officially certified by the National Labor Relations Board,” the union wrote in its launch. The NLRB declined to remark.
Maida Rosenstein, the union’s director of organizing, wrote in a press release to New York News that the museum “objected to the inclusion of the 100 individuals referred to, saying that they shouldn’t be eligible for union illustration, claiming that the people concerned maintain positions which might be both ‘confidential’ or are ‘supervisory.’
“The union believes that the museum has made these claims on flimsy grounds and that the individuals should rightfully be eligible to be part of our union,” Rosenstein wrote.
The museum spokesperson wrote to New York News that the events agreed that choose workers may take part within the vote, and {that a} closing willpower on whether or not the Nationwide Labor Relations Act excludes these roles from becoming a member of a union would occur after the election. The Museum and the union are actually working by the usual NLRB course of, based on the spokesperson.
The Nationwide Labor Relations Act excludes managers, supervisors, and “confidential employees” from becoming a member of a union.
Throughout unionization processes, events should agree on voting eligibility, and solely workers who’ve been decided eligible might have their votes counted.
Based on a Met spokesperson, over 600 of the museum’s 2,000 workers earn over $100,000 yearly. Museum salaries have elevated by a median of 4% every year over the past 5 years, and the museum has stored worker contributions at 6% for the final 9 years.
Along with practically 1,000 workers’ new membership in Native 2110, some Met workers are already represented by DC37 — New York Metropolis’s largest public sector union — and the Worldwide Alliance of Theatrical Stage Staff. Native 2110 represents employees at cultural and academic establishments throughout New York.
“We look forward to working in solidarity with our fellow unions,” the brand new union’s web site reads.
