It will be the second union to form at the New York museum
Curators, conservators and editors at New York’s Guggenheim Museum are looking to form a union via United Auto Workers – the second such union to form in recent years, the New York Times reports.
The Technical, Office and Professional Union, Local 2110, U.A.W. has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to authorize a vote by museum employees concerning the union. The unit would represent about 160 workers.
In a statement, the Guggenheim said that it recognized ‘the right of its employees to enter collective barganing’ and would ‘announce next steps shortly’.
Employees told the Times that concerns around precarity accelerated by the pandemic, as well as issues of racial equality and diversity, were key drivers behind the push to unionise.
The museum’s first union formed in 2019, covering 22 full-time employees and 145 on-call staff working across engineering, fabrication, installation and other departments; the museum signed a contract with the union earlier this year.
The vote to unionize was troubled by what organizers described as threats by management that their jobs would be at risk if they were forced to go on strike and allegations that the museum had stalled in its negotiations.
