Los Angeles County Museum of Art leadership has declined to voluntarily recognize LACMA United, the union that hundreds of its staff voted to form last week, opting instead to pursue a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election. The decision effectively delays the unionization effort, as NLRB elections are paused during the federal government shutdown, the union noted in a statement released today.
In late October, LACMA employees across departments formed a union in association with the AFSCME Cultural Workers United District Council 36. The union has called for pay that reflects the rising cost of living and long-term job stability, as well as “fairer compensation, expanded benefits and increased transparency in institutional protocols and resources.”
The letter reads, “Many employees are struggling with wages that have not kept up with the rising cost of living in the sixth-most expensive city in the world. At the same time, employees in virtually every department continue to absorb expanded responsibilities and workloads, often without additional compensation, due to high turnover, limited resources, and positions that have been vacated or frozen.” Museum leadership was asked to respond to the request for voluntary recognition by November 5.
The unionization push precedes the opening of LACMA’s new Peter Zumthor–designed building, which is expected to debut next April. The building, officially called the David Geffen Galleries, will feature a reimagined installation of the museum’s permanent collection, with works previously separated by time and place shown together for the first time.
“We are disappointed that LACMA leadership has chosen to delay rather than embrace the democratic will of its workers,” LACMA United’s organizing committee said in a statement. “While the museum reimagines itself as a more collaborative, less hierarchical institution in its new David Geffen Galleries, it has declined to extend that same vision to its relationship with the very people who bring LACMA’s mission to life every day.”
The AFSCME Cultural Workers United District Council 36, a division of the national AFSCME Cultural Workers United, has helped workers unionize at other leading LA museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Foundation, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and La Brea Tar Pits. At the national level, AFSCME Cultural Workers United represents employees at museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Art Museum, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Earlier this week, employees at the Detroit Institute of Arts announced plans to join AFSCME Michigan.
In its new statement, LACMA United said that the museum’s status as a county museum makes management’s position “particularly troubling,” noting that, unlike mutual-benefit nonprofits, LACMA was established by Los Angeles County as a public-benefit corporation and receives more than $30 million in public funding each year.
“In response to management’s position, LACMA United has filed with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), asserting our status as public sector employees under county oversight,” the union said.
ARTnews has contacted LACMA for comment.
