Averting Strike, Brooklyn Museum Union Ratifies First Contract
The union secured wage increases and other wins just a day before a planned strike deadline and amid an ongoing unfair labor practices complaint.
After two years of negotiations and rallies for improved wages and labor practices, the Brooklyn Museum Union has voted to ratify its first union contract with the institution just one day before the intended strike deadline of Wednesday, November 8. The three-and-a-half-year contract, retroactively effective January 1, 2023, guarantees salary and wage increases for full- and part-time staffers respectively, healthcare coverage for part-time staffers, and more avenues for career development within the institution.
"The hard work of museum staff is behind the museum’s incredible exhibitions and programs,” said Senior Registrar Samantha Cortez in a statement shared with Hyperallergic by Local 2110 UAW, the union representing the Brooklyn institution's workers. “Having a contract that raises our pay rates and spells out legally enforceable rights is an acknowledgment of the important contribution we make as a staff.”
The hourly wage for front-of-house positions, such as those in the visitor experience service department, will increase from between $16 and $17 to $22 an hour, with $1 increases scheduled for each January 1 throughout the lifetime of the contract. Full-time staffers and part-timers who don't work in these public-facing jobs are on a percentage increase schedule, starting with a retroactive 5% increase this year, a 4% increase in 2024, and a 3% increase in 2025.
Additionally, both full-time and part-time staffers will be awarded ratification bonuses of $3,000 and $500, respectively. Employees who average 20 hours a week or more are now eligible for the museum-wide health benefit plan, and the museum has reduced the employee share of healthcare premium costs as well. Other points of the contract include an annual professional development fund of $50,000, internal job postings for career development, and improved layoff protections.
In a statement to Hyperallergic, Brooklyn Museum Director of Public Relations and Communications Taylor Maatman said the agreement "reflects the Museum’s ongoing commitment to important wage equity investments across the organization."
The union victory is hard-won. After five months of bargaining, the union announced last September that it had filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging that the museum had "refused to bargain fairly." In addition to bad-faith bargaining, the complaint includes allegations of concerted activities, modifications to the contract, and changes to the terms and conditions of employment. The NLRB has scheduled a trial for November 14 to address the union's complaints.
