On the heels of a historic municipal work stoppage that left Philadelphia’s streets drowning in mounting rubbish piles, unionized employees on the Penn Museum are inching towards a strike to acquire greater wages from the College of Pennsylvania, the biggest personal employer within the metropolis.
Members of Penn Museum Staff United Native 397, which represents round 50 staffers throughout customer companies, public programming, collections administration, conservation, and different departments on the archaeology and anthropology museum, unanimously voted to authorize a strike final week after their contract expired on the finish of June. Although the native unit has not but referred to as a piece stoppage, its government board is ready to take action if negotiations don’t enhance, a consultant for the group advised Hyperallergic.
Later right now, staff plan to stage an informational picket exterior the museum’s Backyard Jams occasion to amplify their requires elevated salaries. The museum union has been in negotiations with the college for weeks, demanding a wage enhance that not solely retains tempo with the rising price of residing but additionally addresses alleged pay inequities.
Hyperallergic has contacted the Penn Museum for remark.
Since their first contract was ratified in 2023, the college has not raised the bargaining unit’s lowest hourly pay of $17, the union stated in a press release shared with elected officers. And at the moment, the beginning pay charges for half of the roles represented within the labor group are under $23.26 an hour — the benchmark wage that a person should earn in an effort to assist themselves in Philadelphia, in accordance with the MIT Dwelling Wage Calculator. The college’s most up-to-date proposal would see the bottom pay fee rise to $18.32 by 2028.
“Regardless of Penn being the biggest and one of many wealthiest personal employers within the metropolis, too lots of the staff we signify on the Museum wrestle to make ends meet,” the union stated in its assertion.
“The vast majority of time in bargaining classes is spent not negotiating however ready for administration to reply with yet one more rejection,” the union added.
Penn Museum Staff United is a part of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Staff — the commerce union representing the town’s roughly 9,000 municipal workers who not too long ago suspended work for eight days. It is usually a part of Philly Cultural Staff United, which consists of workers on the Philadelphia Museum of Artwork, Please Contact Museum, and Schuylkill Heart.
In 2022, the chapter on the Philadelphia Museum of Artwork went on strike for 19 days till they’d ratified their first contract, which additionally expired on the finish of June.
“It’s previous time for Penn to return to the desk with critical proposals that meet the wants of staff and permit the events to achieve settlement,” the union’s assertion to elected officers learn.
