Whitney Museum union sets Monday strike deadline days before Lichtenstein retrospective

Unionized staff at the Whitney Museum of American Art set a strike deadline of Monday, Oct. 5, if they do not receive a fair contract offer, according to the New York City Central Labor Council. Workers voted in mid-September to authorize a strike, and the union says the walkout would be open-ended, The Art Newspaper reported.

The workers are represented by Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers. Their three-year contract with the museum expired in June, and the union has been bargaining for a second agreement since early May, according to the labor council. The union says the museum’s offer is inadequate given inflation and the cost of living in New York City.

What the union is asking for

The union wants the museum to raise salaries to $71,000 a year, The Art Newspaper reported. That figure comes from an annual New York City cost of living report and represents the minimum a single adult needs to afford to live in the city, the outlet said. Workers have also raised concerns about rising health care costs and premiums.

The union has pointed to the Whitney’s endowment of more than $1 billion and to executive compensation as evidence that the museum can meet its demands, according to The Art Newspaper. Under the first contract, entry-level staff received a raise from $17 to $24 an hour, along with benefit contributions and professional development provisions, the outlet reported. The union says the museum’s current offers fall short.

Workers describe the stakes

“It’s not that we want to strike,” said Derrick Charles, a membership associate at the Whitney and the union chairperson, according to the labor council. “We’d rather be working and doing our jobs but our wages are untenable for making ends meet in New York City.” Charles works in the lobby, selling tickets and memberships and answering visitor questions. He has held the position since 2018 and earns $24 an hour, the council said.

Micah Musheno, a licensing manager who serves on the union’s negotiating committee, told The Art Newspaper that she has worked at the Whitney for nearly a decade and that it is the only place she has worked. She began as an unpaid curatorial intern who stayed for three semesters, and she was hired in 2016 into a project-based role, according to the outlet. She was given a full-time position in 2018. Musheno said turnover has been a real issue at the museum in recent years.

Maida Rosenstein, director of organizing for Local 2110, told The Art Newspaper the strike could continue indefinitely. A museum spokesperson told the outlet that the Whitney “continues bargaining in good faith and remains committed to arriving at a fair, reasonable contract that respects the needs of all parties.”

Timing around the Lichtenstein retrospective

The deadline falls days before the museum’s Roy Lichtenstein retrospective, Like New, which opens to the public on Oct. 11. Press and member previews begin Oct. 6, and the museum has multiple VIP and donor events scheduled, according to the labor council. Hyperallergic reported that the unionized staff are prepared to picket throughout preview week and the opening.

The Whitney union voted to authorize a strike alongside Local 2110 members at the Brooklyn Museum and the American Folk Art Museum, according to The Art Newspaper. Both of those units later reached tentative agreements with management. Hyperallergic reported that the Brooklyn Museum and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum unions have since ratified their second contracts, and that the American Folk Art Museum union ratified its first.

Local 2110 is also bargaining with the Noguchi Museum, where workers voted earlier this year to authorize a strike, The Art Newspaper reported. Local 2110 has organized staff at a number of New York cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, the outlet said.