We Won!
This week the NLRB counted the ballots for our long-awaited union election. The final vote count was 278 to 75, and we won a wall-to-wall union across all four of the Carnegie Museums. We are now the biggest museum union in the country!
Since October 2019 we have been organizing a union to advocate for all workers at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Because our union includes a diverse range of roles and responsibilities across the four museums and central operations, we can pool our collective expertise to fight for better working conditions, open communication, and fair compensation for ourselves and future generations of museum workers.
restitution of 26 artefacts to the Republic of Benin and one to Senegal. Speaking in the National Assembly on Thursday, the French culture minister Roselyne Bachelot described the move as ‘the culmination of a long process’ but stressed that the law allowing for the return of these artefacts sets no precedent for the return of others. The Senate had voted unanimously in favour of the bill’s first reading, but its amendment to set up a national council on restitution and to change the final wording was rejected by the National Assembly, which was able to pass its preferred version into law.
Art Industry News: Jeff Koons Has Joined MasterClass to Teach His Uniquely Cosmic Perspective on Making Art + Other Stories
Plus, the staff at Pittsburgh s Carnegie Museums vote to unionize and the Mapplethorpe Foundation is under scrutiny for taking a PPP loan.
Jeff Koons, mid-lesson. Courtesy of MasterClass.
Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know on this Thursday, December 17.
NEED-TO-READ
Carnegie Museums Staff Vote to Unionize – Employees at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museums are the latest in a wave of museum workforces to vote in favor of joining a union. Full-time and part-time staff at the Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Science Center, and Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History voted 278 to 75 to join the United Steelworkers’ 500-member United Museum Workers unit. (
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Workers across the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh system have voted by a substantial margin to join the Pittsburgh-based United Steelworkers union.
Out of the 529 employees eligible to vote, a total of 353 votes were counted. Of that number, there were 278 yes votes.
The workers will become part of a 500-member USW unit called the United Museum Workers. It includes scientists, educators, art handlers, front desk and administrative staff, gift shop clerks, ushers and other workers at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Science Center and the Andy Warhol Museum.