Workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art have taken a major step toward unionising, joining a growing labour movement across US cultural institutions. On 17 November, the Local 2110 chapter of the United Auto Workers (UAW) filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a union election on behalf of around 1,000 full- and part-time employees at the museum. If approved, the unit would bring together workers across conservation, visitor services, curatorial support, education, data management, retail and operations. The Met has just over 2,000 employees in total, some of whom are already represented by two other unions.
The newest union push at the Met began informally in 2020, when staff were confronted furloughs, layoffs and shifting workloads brought on by prolonged closures and budget reductions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Discussions intensified in 2022, when employees began working directly with UAW organisers.
“The Met strives to ensure that we are not only one of the world’s leading art museums, but that we are also a workplace where our exceptional staff can succeed and thrive,” a spokesperson for the museum said in a statement to The Art Newspaper. “Over many decades, we have worked to develop a culture of inclusivity, collaboration and creativity, and take every opportunity to uplift our employees. We respect the right to seek union representation and are proud of our longstanding relationships with DC37 and Local 306 IATSE, which represent a large segment of our staff.”
For longtime staff, the decision to formally organise reflects years of concerns around pay inequity, job protection and the increasing strain of supporting one of the world’s largest encyclopaedic museums. Several workers say that despite their deep commitment to the institution, compensation and staffing levels have not kept pace with New York’s cost of living or with the heightened operational demands tied to capital projects and expanded programming.
“The union effort was started during the pandemic by a group of long-time staff who know the Met extremely well and have been through multiple crises where we have lost staff and benefits,” says Rebecca Capua, a conservator who has worked at the museum for 16 years. “We want our jobs at the Met to be viable long-term careers for ourselves and for those who come after us.”
The concerns are not isolated to one department. Staff describe a pattern of top-down decision-making that has contributed to what they view as eroding benefits and an unsustainable workload. Several cite recent changes to work-from-home policies, increased project responsibilities and a lack of consultation on initiatives that impact daily operations.
“The Met is an amazing place. I have worked here almost 20 years and love it,” says Alison Clark, a collections manager. “However, the museum often makes decisions without considering or consulting staff, such as changes to our work-from-home policy and erosion of our health and other benefits. Right now, we are contending with several large-scale capital projects that displace people and create a lot of additional work for the staff. Unionising is the only way for us to have a strong collective voice to address concerns with the museum.”
For newer employees, the organising process has built a sense of solidarity across departments that rarely interact within the museum’s hierarchy. Workers say this cross-department collaboration has made clear that the issues they face are shared widely.
“Being involved in the organising for our union has really broken down barriers between us as co-workers who work in many different departments at the Met,” says Tiffany Camusci, a data analyst who joined in 2023. “As a newer employee, I got involved because a union will empower us to address our pay and our opportunities for career advancement at the Met. It is rewarding to know that so many of my colleagues share similar concerns and want to address our workplace needs collectively.”
If the NLRB approves the petition, an election will be scheduled in the coming weeks. Should the vote pass, the union would negotiate its first contract with museum leadership, setting terms for wages, benefits and working conditions. The Met workers would be joining a rising number of their colleagues at other museums whose staff have sought collective bargaining since the pandemic. Workers at the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art and Dia Art Foundation in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Mass Moca in North Adams, Massachusetts, and elsewhere are already unionised under Local 2110 UAW.
