Employees at the Portland Museum of Art are petitioning the National Labor Relations Board for union representation, citing low pay and lack of job security, and accusing museum management of union-busting tactics. The museum management says it is not anti-union, but it doesn’t believe a union “is right for our museum.”
A simmering dispute, exacerbated by the pandemic, burst into public view Tuesday when museum employees who are seeking to join the Technical, Office and Professional Union, UAW Local 2110 out of New York, issued a news release saying museum management contested the eligibility of some employees to join the bargaining unit and is attempting to force an unsafe in-person election instead of allowing employees to vote by mail. The union president accused museum management of mimicking the tactics of Republican leaders who are making it harder for people to vote in the presidential election.