Museum workers rally public support for contract campaign

April 23, 2024 by

Science Museum of Minnesota workers supported their union’s bargaining team during an informational picket and rally outside the museum in St. Paul.

Union members at the Science Museum of Minnesota tapped into a well of solidarity during their contract rally April 2, pulling support from hundreds of fellow AFSCME Council 5 members taking part in a convention across the street.

Together, they turned Kellogg Avenue’s sidewalk into a river of AFSCME’s trademark green, holding informational picketing to demand museum management pick up the pace in negotiations over a first union contract for the newly formed bargaining unit of over 200 workers.

“It’s been a real slog,” Gretchen Haupt, a member of the Science Museum of Minnesota Workers Union, said. “But the small gains we have gotten usually come after some action or public pressure. That’s why we’re out here today.”

When Haupt and other museum workers voted to unionize in January 2023, they cited a need for pay transparency, fair grievance and disciplinary processes, and compensation increases to reflect their skill levels and experience. The union’s bargaining team has turned those issues into more than 20 contract proposals over the course of negotiations that began over eight months ago.

Getting management to counter their proposals, though, has taken as long as five months. And when they do get a response, Haupt said, it’s usually unproductive.

“They laughed, actually, at our initial pay scale proposal,” she said. “But they still haven’t said what they would rather have, other than the way it is now. It’s really disheartening.”

[Show your solidarity! Supporters can sign a petition calling on the Science Museum to stop committing unfair labor practices and settle a fair contract.]

During the rally, Science Museum workers described a growing frustration among their ranks. Several speakers wondered how the nonprofit could claim, in its statement of values, a commitment “to achieve collective liberation” while showing such disdain for collective bargaining.

For Megan Goeke, an evaluation and research associate, the frustration has been building for some time. She has been stuck at the bottom of the recommended pay range – or lower – for her job classification since accepting her current role with the Science Museum six years ago. As she gained experience and moved closer to her doctoral degree, Goeke asked for a pay increase, but management refused, keeping her at the bottom of the pay scale.

“I love my work, and I truly believe in the vision and impact the Science Museum of Minnesota has on our community,” Goeke said. “When I decided to go into nonprofit museum work, I knew I wouldn’t see the biggest paycheck in town, but what I didn’t know is that my pay would forever be limited by my initial pay.”

Her message to museum management: “I’ve experienced my share of delays. Let’s see some action.”

But instead of working swiftly toward a first contract, Science Museum management has been engaging in unfair labor practices, according to 12 separate complaints filed by Council 5 with the National Labor Relations Board since workers voted to unionize.

The NLRB has upheld three charges, and others remain pending. Many of the complaints allege that the museum has made unilateral changes to benefits and working conditions – and even layoffs – without engaging the union.

Bart Anderson, Council 5’s interim executive director, said Science Museum bosses seem to believe that ignoring their workers’ union will make it go away. In fact, he said, it’s only going to bring more public pressure on the museum.

“AFSCME Council 5, our union of more than 43,000 workers, is standing firm on our commitment to support our Science Museum of Minnesota members every day as they fight to secure a first contract that respects the rights, contributions and dignity of all workers,” he said.

By sticking together as a bargaining unit and rallying public support to their campaign, union members at the museum believe they have the formula to achieve a fair first contract, Haupt said.

“It’s not just a small group of people who are at the bargaining table, we have broad internal support,” she said. “And today we’re showing we have broad community support, too.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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For Mia workers, fresh approach to bargaining delivers big gains

March 15, 2023 by

Workers picketed the Mia in February. (photo courtesy OPEIU Local 12)

After their first public contract campaign in recent memory, union members who work at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) ratified a new agreement yesterday that will raise wages by $4 per hour across the board over the next two and a half years.

The contract covers about 120 members of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 12 who work in a variety of roles throughout the museum. Their previous contract expired in January.

Negotiators reached a tentative agreement on the new pact Friday, March 3, and union members called off informational picketing planned each of the following two days – opening weekend of a new ticketed exhibit at the Mia.

Local 12 steward Aaron Barger, an IT systems administrator and member of the union’s bargaining team, said the scheduled action put pressure on management to reach a deal.

“It’s not something you want to have at the beginning of a new show,” he said of the picketing.

In addition to wage increases, union members won new language enshrining progressive discipline in the contract. They held the line on the existing health care split with management, added new curator positions to the bargaining unit and gained flexibility with regard to certain paid holidays when the museum is open to the public.

“It treats Black Friday, New Year’s Day and Juneteenth as optional holidays,” Barger said. “So if you want to come in and work those days you can, but if you observe Eid or a Jewish high holiday or something else of more significance to you, then you can do that.”

Union members made a strategic decision as began in November 2022 not to prioritize paid family leave in contract talks, Barger said. DFL lawmakers had won a “trifecta” of control over the state House, Senate and governor’s office, improving the chances that legislation creating a statewide insurance pool to extend family and medical leave to workers statewide will pass this legislative session.

Instead, Local 12’s bargaining team made wage increases its top priority, and they became the biggest sticking point as talks progressed.

Management came to the table expecting “bargaining as usual,” Barger said. But Mia workers had watched as workers at other museums in the Twin Cities and across the country joined together in the wake of the pandemic, creating unions and fighting for improved wages, benefits and working conditions.

“We are one of the oldest art museum unions in the country, at least 40 years old,” said Barger, who has worked at the Mia for four-plus years. “I think this is the first time we’ve held a picket since this union was founded.

“It’s almost like the union had become a formality or just a legal entity. But after COVID hit and there was a change in (Mia) leadership, people kind of woke up to the fact that we have to adopt more activist tactics.”

That meant informational picketing in February, a button campaign, an online petition and a switch from closed to open bargaining, which allowed union negotiators to share management’s proposals with fellow members.

“We could report back and say, ‘Here’s what the boss is saying. Here’s what they think of you,’” Barger said. “Your best organizer really becomes the boss.”

With a newly active and engaged membership, Barger added, the Mia bargaining unit is in a better position to build on its gains in future negotiations.

“The union is not a separate entity from you,” he said. “You are your union, and the people at the table are there to represent you. Ultimately, the work doesn’t happen without the workers.”

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Science Museum workers vote to unionize

January 20, 2023 by

SMM Workers show their union pride on Instagram @smmworkersunion.

Workers at the Science Museum of Minnesota have voted to form a union.

Council 5 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers (AFSCME) announced the election results today. Museum workers petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a union election in November, and the board tallied votes yesterday.

“Workers at the Science Museum of Minnesota have voted overwhelmingly to join together in a union with the AFSCME Council 5 family, calling for dignity and respect for the work they do,” Council 5 Executive Director Julie Bleyhl said. “In spite of a significant anti-union pressure campaign by Science Museum of Minnesota management, these workers spoke decisively that they seek a voice in the workplace, fair pay for a day’s work, dignified paid leave policies, and more.”

About 250 Science Museum employees were eligible to participate in the union election. The bargaining unit will bring together a wide range of full-time, part-time and seasonal workers, including scientists, researchers, lab technicians and accounting specialists.

Nicole Dzenowski, a paleontologist at the Science Museum, spoke during a rally in support of fellow AFSCME members at the state historical society.

Like other nonprofit workers who have formed unions in recent years, Science Museum employees said they joined together, in part, to increase their say in the organization.

“We want a seat at the table,” paleontologist Nicole Dzenowski said during a rally last month in support of fellow AFSCME members bargaining their first union contract with the Minnesota Historical Society. “Right now we have no ability to be a part of the decisions that affect us.”

Bleyhl said Science Museum workers “will have the full support of our union as they continue their momentum and fight for dignity and respect as they negotiate a first contract with the Science Museum of Minnesota that lifts everyone up.”

Council 5 represents over 43,000 workers, mostly in the public sector. But the union has welcomed over 700 nonprofit workers into its ranks in the last three years, supporting successful union drives at the Walker Art Center, Regions Hospital, Cornerstone Advocacy Service and the Historical Society.

AFSCME says it represents about 35,000 cultural workers nationwide.

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