New York’s Jewish Museum staff are the latest to join a wave of unionization drives in art institutions across the country. Yesterday, January 10, they filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) via representatives of Local 2110 UAW. The union would include art handlers, curators, development staff, educators, visitor experience and retail employees, and other administrative staff.
The workers cite job insecurity, wage inequities, working conditions, and their demand for more transparent employment policies as among the reasons for organizing a union. They seek to join Local 2110 UAW, which represents workers at the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Shed, and several other cultural institutions across New York and New England.