The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) announced today, August 4, that it has laid off 85 employees who were furloughed in June. An additional 42 workers have accepted voluntary separation agreements. The decision comes two days before the results of a mail-in union election at the museum are expected to be announced.
Of the 85 laid off workers, 56 were part-time and 29 were full-time, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The PMA has not responded to Hyperallergic’s immediate request for comment.
In June, the PMA cut more than 100 employees in a combination of furloughs and voluntary separation agreements. The furloughed workers included visitor services representatives, front of house staff, and others. The week that the cuts were announced, workers achieved an agreement with the museum that included furloughed workers in a union vote in July. The results are expected on Thursday.
“We are still trying to process what that means for the unit size,” Nicole Cook, a union organizer at PMA, told the Inquirer in an interview following today’s layoffs.
The museum, which has been closed since March, is planning to reopen at limited capacity in Septemeber. It currently faces a $6.5 million budget shortfall due to months of COVID-19 shutdown.
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