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Haril Patel Strike In Modern Art Museum Of New York The Professional and
Administrative Staff Association (PASTA) of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMa)
represting 250 administrative assistants, archivists, curatorial staff,
conservators, educators, graphic artists, librarians, salespeople, secretaries,
visitor assistants and writers. Their union started the strike on April 28,
2000. The central issues involve salaries, healthcare, the threat of layoffs and
union rights. The old contract expired October 31 1999. This is the first major
strike at the museum since 1973. The Professional and Administrative Staff
Association (PASTA), which is Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers, represent
the strikers. They comprise a varied workforce of administrative assistants,
archivists, curators, conservators, graphic artists, librarians, salespeople,
secretaries, visitors assistants and writers. PASTA is one of six unions in the
museum. The members of the other five bargaining units are continuing to work.
The workers have rejected the museum's offer of a three percent raise a year for
three years, and is demanding five percent for the first year and four percent
for the subsequent years in a five-year contract. The strikers believe that this
demand is more than justified considering the very low wages they receive, which
they say are even lower than what is paid in other museums for comparable work.
The median wage for the employees is $28,000 a year, and the starting salary for
40 of the workers is $17,000 a year which is nothing. Furthermore, the union
says that the museum is refusing to maintain the employees' health insurance and
other benefits. PASTA maintains that MoMA has been very successful in its
investments, and could easily afford a decent salary hike while maintaining
benefits. The workers feel that their wages are being held down while the
managers are more than amply compensated.
Another issue provoking the strike is
job security. The museum is undergoing a $650 million expansion project for at
least two years, and is planning relocate to Queens from its present location in
Manhattan during that period of time. The union fears that the jobs of many of
its members will be lost, and wants a guarantee that the workers will be able to
return to their positions when the project is completed. The union is seeking a
five-year contract in order to ensure that any job security clause will not
expire before the project has been completed. This way everyone will know they
have a job when they come back and not be in fear that they will be jobless.
This is one of the major issues. PASTA wants the museum to agree that all new
workers be required to either join the union or, if they don't join, be required
to pay an equivalent monetary amount of the dues as an agency fee that goes to
the union.
At the same time, PASTA has filed charges with the National Labor
Relations Board charging the museum with not bargaining in good faith by
attempting to bypass the union and negotiate with individual employees. The
strike has forced the museum to cancel a fundraising event starring the singer
Sheryl Crow. MoMA officials said that they did not want Ms. Crow or the ticket
holders to have to cross a picket line, and refunded 450 tickets with prices
ranging from $500 to $1,000 each! Other than this event, some workers on the
picket line have stated that it is difficult for them to judge how many people
they have managed to discourage from going into the museum. MoMA officials are
maintaining that the museum is running normally, and that ninety of the two
hundred and sixty workers that are represented by the bargaining unit are
working. Union officials dispute the claim that the strike is having no effect
on the institution and say that only thirty workers are crossing the picket
line. One striker, Ela Respina, a photographer with one year at the museum,
said,
“Our salaries are quite low. MoMA is penny pitching on our wages. The
museum has made a lot of money in the last couple of years, and this is on
public record. “One problem is that all the other unions have contracts that
expire at different times, and so they are working. The guards have a no-strike
clause in their contract, the art handlers have a no-strike clause, the
operation and housekeeping union has a no-strike clause, and so on. By contract
they cannot go on a sympathy strike and join us. “I work here because MoMA is a
premier institution. It has a first-rate collection, and enormous resources. I
have learned a lot since I have been here. People in the arts profession love
what they do, and are not working primarily for the money. For example, my
colleague standing here with me on this picket line has a Ph.D., and she makes
less money than the guards.”
Danny Fermon is a museum librarian who has been
working for over 30 years and is on the union's negotiating committee. He said,
“A lot of librarians who are not in the unions and work in law firms, make a lot
more money than a librarian for a museum or for the public library. I have a
masters degree in music, and a masters in Library Studies. After 30 years on
this job, I make about $37,000. I believe that what they pay the workers here is
the lowest of any museum in New York. “I am here because I like the work that I
do, and the people that I work with. Also, there are certain health and pension
benefits that I get here that I would not get in a firm. “We are handing out
flyers urging people not to visit the museum. A lot of people do not go in, but
it is hard to tell just how much of an overall effect we are having. However,
Tuesday night the singer Sheryl Crow canceled a benefit that was scheduled to
take place here because she will not cross our picket line. “One of the most
important of our demands is for a closed union shop.
There are 260 staff
personnel, but only 180 are in the union. Most of the nonunion workers are
crossing the picket line, but some have joined the strike. There are also about
a dozen union members who are scabbing.” If the bargaining unit can do a good
job and have their needs met the strike will end in everyone’s favor. This is a
major problem is because most of the workers in Art Museum are among the lowest
paid workers in New York’s Museums. Workers that have been working there for
over long periods of time like Mr. Danny Fermon should not fear such problems as
job security. Members like him and others should have high seniority, especially
with a masters degree the wages and benefits should be more reasonable. If
simple tasks like this can be met to start it off, maybe the strike can come to
an end, and the rest of the issues be solved in the future.
If the major needs
are met first at least the workers can start working, because it’s better then
not working at all both to the Museum and the workers. We all hope this ongoing
drama can come to a understanding end after several long months. On September 8,
2000 the 4 and half month strike finally came to an end during a 15hour session.
Both sides compromised in order to reach an agreement. The union relented on its
demand to control the Museum's healthcare plan (though management is obligated,
prior to making any changes to the Health and Welfare Program, to negotiate in
good faith with the union over its proposed changes) and management has granted
the union's request for an agency shop that would grandfather all current
employees. Also of note is the negotiated salary increase of 17.5% over 5 years
for an average of 3.5% each year.
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