On Wednesday in Manhattan, VIP visitors trickled into the Guggenheim Museum to have a good time its buzzy Carol Bove present, whereas outdoors, its unionized employees—conservators, archivists, educators, front-facing employees, and others—rallied for a second contract that the group hopes will probably be extra sturdy.
The Guggenheim employees, who voted to hitch UAW Native 2110 in 2023 after greater than two years of negotiations with administration, are again on the bargaining desk below renewed urgency. Final 12 months, the museum minimize 20 jobs—7 p.c of its employees—throughout a number of departments, marking its third spherical of layoffs in 5 years.
On the time, museum management cited an “total monetary image” that “is just not the place it must be” as the explanation for the job cuts, which have been framed as a part of a broader “reorganization.” The museum’s union stated it had not been given advance discover of the layoffs. In February 2025, a grievance was filed in opposition to the museum, and contract negotiations have since positioned job safety as a high precedence.
Anton Sherin, an archivist on the Guggenheim since 2009, advised ARTnews, “I’m a division of 1 now; the remainder of my division was laid off. I’m anticipated to do a number of folks’s job with out a rise in pay, and I’m not an remoted case. This isn’t sustainable—it’s an issue that’s going to catch as much as the museum.”
His sentiment was echoed by Simone Sanchez, a customer expertise affiliate since 2021: “They removed a 3rd of the guests service workforce. The place there was 5 or 6 folks on the ground, some days there’s only one.”
After handing out flyer detailing the state of negotiations on the Bove preview earlier that day, some 30 unionized staff gathered once more on the Guggenheim tonight, brandishing indicators that learn “Mariët, Do the Wright Factor,” a reference to museum director Mariët Westermann and Frank Loyd Wright, the architect behind its iconic construction. Alluding to an artist whose work is well-represented within the Guggenheim assortment, one other learn, “Kandinsky, Can U Pay Me?”
One call-and-response went: “What’s disgusting? Union busting!”
Union negotiators are looking for, amongst extra, increased wages and decrease profit prices. In response to the union, entry-level employees on the Guggenheim earn simply $24 an hour, and half of all museum staff make lower than $71,000 yearly. Staff incomes below $75,000 per 12 months should pay roughly $4,700 yearly for household protection and about $1,600 for particular person protection. For museum professionals with longer tenures who earn greater than $75,000, household protection exceeds $6,200 per 12 months, whereas particular person protection tops $2,000. The union additionally claims that staff should additionally cowl co-pays and annual deductibles out of pocket, along with wage deductions for premiums.
”The museum has responded with an aggressive rejection to our proposals,” stated Maida Rosenstein, director of organizing at Native 2110 at UAW. “They are saying the present contract is ok when staff live check-to-check. Nobody will get wealthy in the event that they improve wages; staff will make a residing wage.”
A consultant for the Guggenheim didn’t reply to an ARTnews request for remark by publication.
In August 2023, almost 150 Guggenheim staff ratified their first contract below the auspices of Native 2110 of the United Auto Staff (UAW). The three-year settlement ensures a minimal 9 p.c wage improve over the following two and a half years, together with increased retirement contributions, 4 weeks of paid household go away, and funding for profession coaching. The contract additionally establishes minimal charges for each full- and part-time staff. (Artwork handlers and services staff on the Guggenheim joined a separate union, the Worldwide Union of Working Engineers Native 30, which additionally represents employees at New York’s MoMA PS1.)
Guggenheim staff rode a wave of cultural-worker unionizations that gained momentum within the wake of the job insecurity introduced on by the Covid-19 pandemic. In January, staff of the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York formally voted to hitch Native 2110, forming one of many largest bargaining models at a cultural establishment within the nation. Right this moment, Native 2110’s umbrella spans staff on the Hispanic Society Museum and Library, Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney Museum, and different arts organizations throughout New York Metropolis.
“I consider a museum because the sum of its folks—and we’re a powerful neighborhood on the Guggenheim—however when it’s understaffed and its staff are underpaid, these staff will maintain themselves again,” stated Sherin. “This could possibly be an exceptional museum, however the concepts they’re pushing by is just not what it wants.”
