MASS MoCA Workers to Stage Daylong Strike
Roughly 100 unionized employees on the Massachusetts Museum of Up to date Artwork (MASS MoCA) final week voted by a 96 p.c margin to strike on Friday, August 19, to protest the wages being provided amid present contract negotiations. Employees will picket the doorway to the North Adams, Massachusetts, establishment through the strike, which is slated to run from 8 a.m. to six p.m.
The employees unionized in April 2021 below United Auto Employees (UAW) Native 2110—which represents employees at museums throughout the nation—and have since final summer time sought a minimal wage of $18 per hour, with annual will increase aimed toward bringing the minimal to about $20 by year-end 2024. Thus far, the museum has provided them $16 per hour, with no projected enhance. At current, the typical unionized staffer is paid $17.30 per hour, with about 66 p.c of employees being paid beneath $15.50 per hour. The union famous in an Instagram put up that “in keeping with the Financial Coverage Institute’s funds calculator for a modest residing in Berkshire County [where MASS MoCA is located], a single particular person with no youngsters must earn $40,000 a yr.” As a way to obtain this, an worker working a 40-hour work week 52 weeks a yr would wish to earn about $19.23 per hour.
The union has additionally lodged unfair labor observe prices towards MASS MoCA with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board after the museum allegedly promised sure staff raises in the event that they persuaded the union to decrease its wage calls for, in keeping with Artnews. In a press release, a MASS MoCA spokesperson claimed that the establishment was negotiating in good religion with the UAW. “Whereas we respect our staff’ proper to strike as a way of expressing their views, we’re additionally disillusioned of their determination, given the optimistic and collaborative surroundings that we have now labored to foster throughout our collective bargaining course of with the UAW,” the consultant stated.
In line with the Berkshire Eagle, the establishment’s upper-level employees will cowl for the placing staff on Friday, who embrace artwork fabricators, customer service employees, curators, and custodians. Union employees, who is not going to be paid whereas placing, have stated that the motion represents an try on their half to indicate the worth of their labor to their employer and to the general public, noting that well-organized strikes have traditionally led to higher contracts and fewer strikes.
