Last week members of staff at the New Museum, New York, publically announced that they had filed a petition to unionise with the National Labor Relations Board which, if successful, would mean employees will join NewMuU-UAW Local 2110, a cultural workers union that includes the staffs of the Museum of Modern Art and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. The museum’s management has pushed back against the petition, hiring consulting firm Adams Nash Haskell & Sheridan which offers union avoidance advice. The negotiations are ongoing.
In a statement, the union organising committee has said: ‘We have come together from across all the museum’s departments to collectively improve our conditions. Forming a union will enable us—as well as future New Museum employees—to effectively advocate for changes that will make the New Museum a more sustainable and equitable institution. We believe in the New Museum and its mission; we want it to succeed. But we also recognize a need for critical changes at this moment in the museum’s growth.’
14 January 2019
