Workers at the Whitney Museum move to form a union
Installation view of Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950-2019. Whitney Museum of American Art. Photograph by Sean Sime.
by Colin Moynihan
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- Employees of the Whitney Museum of American Art are the latest group of museum workers in the city to take steps toward forming a union.
They are also the most recent example of museum employees who have chosen to organize under the wing of a union not everyone would associate with the art world: the United Automobile Workers.
A petition asking for a union vote was filed Monday with the National Labor Relations Board by the Technical, Office, and Professional Union, Local 2110 UAW.
New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art. Photo: Shinya Suzuki/Flickr. May 19, 2021 at 5:21pm
Employees at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York are petitioning to join the United Auto Workers union. Some 180 staff, including conservators, curators, educators, editors, porters, and visitor-services workers, on May 17 filed for representation by Local 2110 branch of UAW, which currently represents staff at the Museum of Modern Art, the New-York Historical Society, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, among other institutions. The news was originally reported in the
“Many of us are looking for more job security within our roles at the Whitney,” Karissa Francis, a visitor services assistant at the museum, said in a statement. Like institutions across the world, the Whitney was forced to lay off employees in the past year owing to the continuing Covid-19 crisis, with roughly 20 percent of workers there losing their jobs.
Beer gardens at museums and attractions in Philadelphia Grace Dickinson, The Philadelphia Inquirer
After an afternoon spent exploring your favorite museums and attractions, relaxing with a cold drink sounds pretty ideal. Fortunately, plenty of Philly-area spots make that easy to do, with beer gardens located just outside. And many offer not only local brews, but enticing views, too.
“I honestly feel like it’s the best-kept secret of the best view of Philadelphia,” says communications manager Jenna Eckel of the Adventure Aquarium’s Flying Fish Beer Garden.
Here, you can sip on beers like the Button and Genny’s Watermelon Splash a homage to the Aquarium’s hippos who love snacking on watermelon while taking in skyline views from across the Delaware River. Elsewhere around the city, you’ll find beer gardens that overlook the Schuylkill River, Independence Mall, and beyond, all within a few steps of cultural and learning experiences you can enjoy fir
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The Whitney Museum of American Art
Unionisation efforts at US museums show no signs of stopping, with staff at two major New York petitioning to join the Local 2110 arm of the United Auto Workers union, which already represents cultural and educational workers across the Northeast.
Around 190 conservators, curators, educators, editors, front-facing staff, porters and more are hoping to create a “wall to wall” union at the Whitney Museum of American Art, while employees at the much smaller Hispanic Society of America are also hoping to join the labour organisation.
“The big picture to me is that these institutions have very wealthy corporate boards, they often have extremely high-paid leadership positions, yet the staff salaries have really lagged behind, so people even in full-time professional positions earn very little, and the Whitney is no exception,” says Maida Rosenstein, the president of Local 2110 UAW. Rosenstein notes that the staff hope that a union wil