Paleontologist Nicole Dzenowski says the Science Museum backtracked after eliminating her position in violation of her union contract.
Nicole Dzenowski, a paleontologist with the Science Museum of Minnesota, was on a field expedition in Montana when she received the news that her position managing Minnesota’s only active fossil-preparation lab was being eliminated.
In a virtual staff meeting that followed, Dzenowski learned her lab, which maintains a collection of hundreds of thousands of fossils, would remain open with support from volunteers – in direct violation of the newly negotiated contract covering over 200 Science Museum workers, members of AFSCME Council 5.
Within weeks, management had offered Dzenowski the position back on a part-time basis, but she and other union members say that her experience epitomizes the museum’s indifference to frontline workers and their union contract – and to the organization’s mission – as it plows ahead with a plan to eliminate 43 full-time positions.
“I am grateful that I will, in part, get to keep my job,” Dzenowski said. “I am grateful that the scientifically significant fossils that our collection houses will get taken care of…
“I can be grateful for all of those things while also still recognizing that the way these layoffs have unfolded does not feel like management has followed our contract and considered any alternatives to these layoffs – let alone any and all.”
Dzenowski and other Science Museum workers – some impacted by the layoffs, some not – laid bare their frustration with the process and their concerns about the institution’s future during a press conference July 29 outside the museum’s Kellogg Boulevard entrance.
Museum management announced plans to shrink its operating budget from $38 million to $31 million July 9, pointing to “fundamental shifts in consumer behavior following the pandemic” that have resulted in lower attendance at museum’s across the U.S. The Science Museum also saw federal grant funding pulled back by the Trump administration earlier this year.
But rather than taking a collaborative approach to navigating the new industry landscape, Science Museum union members said, management has shut them out of the planning process.
“We wouldn’t be here today if Science Museum management wasn’t too afraid to actually listen to their workers, who have brought forward ideas of building a better Science Museum but have been ignored,” Council 5 Director Bart Andersen said.
Decisions behind closed doors
Workers’ requests for information about how leadership arrived at decisions, like eliminating programs or consolidating departments, have gone mostly unanswered.
Sheridan Small, a program specialist, questioned the museum’s plans to discontinue camps – her area of focus – after this season. Small, who accepted the year-round position last March and will be laid off effective Aug. 22, said the move will eliminate a program that brings families – and revenue – to the museum.
“This is one of the museum’s strongest membership drivers,” she said. “Families join to get early access and discounts (on camp registration). Even with the materials and staffing costs, this program pays for itself. It doesn’t drain resources, it generates them.”
Jennings Mergenthal questions the organization’s decision to eliminate every position dedicated to its access and equity program.
Small isn’t the only one struggling to understand management’s reasoning. Grace Richter, who works on the museum floor, said union members in her department have asked how this round of layoffs will be different from last year’s, which eventually forced management to address staffing shortages.
“They have refused to be transparent with my team or grant information requests from the union, and have not engaged in any dialogue,” she said.
“In the 2023-24 fiscal year, our CEO Alison Brown made $572,000 – a huge jump from the previous year,” Richter added. “If our leaders are going to make that much money while I barely make $35,000 a year, shouldn’t they be able to provide us with a bare minimum of transparency on why crucial museum staff are losing their jobs?”
Betrayal of values
Other workers worried the layoffs signal the Science Museum is walking away from its commitment to inclusion and community access.
Ashley Hausch said her entire department dedicated to evaluation and research will be eliminated, and so will the museum’s ability to track visitors by zip code – a critical piece of determining how diverse the museum’s visitor population is.
Jennings Mergenthal, a community engagement specialist, said his department, which seeks to build relevant connections between community members and the museum’s offerings, had been eliminated, too. The move, he said, will increase the distance between museum leaders and the communities the Science Museum claims to serve.
“If the museum wants to act like a business, it should be honest about that,” Mergenthal added. “But if it wants to keep saying that it’s a public good and receive state grants and appropriations in service of the public, then it needs to listen to the community feedback it receives.”
– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor
Union Advocate 