Guggenheim, Brooklyn Museum Unions Ratify New Contracts

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Unionized employees at four major New York cultural institutions, including the Brooklyn Museum and the Guggenheim Museum, have ratified new contracts, UAW Local 2110 announced. The agreements avert potential strikes, following periods of intense negotiation and protest at several organizations.

The Brooklyn Museum and the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) finalized four-year contracts this week. Staff at the Guggenheim and Jewish Museum unions had ratified their respective agreements in September. ARTnews has sought comments from the museums.

For the Brooklyn Museum, the new agreement is its second contract and guarantees annual raises. Minimum salaries for full-time positions will range from $63,585 to $129,854, depending on the role. These increases are retroactive to July 1, with minimums set to rise by another 10.34 percent by the contract's end. Front-facing visitor services and retail associates will earn between $28.69 and $32 per hour by the contract's conclusion.

Elizabeth St. George, an assistant curator at the Brooklyn Museum, stated,“We are pleased to have negotiated a second contract that preserves the quality of our health care and provides significant wage increases. It was important to us to maintain affordable health care, including keeping an out of network option.”

This resolution at the Brooklyn Museum follows earlier tensions over layoffs and the museum's finances. In early 2025, the museum leadership had announced plans to cut over 10 percent of its staff due to a $10 million operating deficit. This decision drew backlash from both DC 37 Local 1502 and UAW Local 2110, which represent museum workers, as they claimed not to have been consulted. The proposed cuts were ultimately not implemented. Union members protested outside the museum for weeks, leading to a $2.5 million grant from the New York City Council to help address the financial shortfall.

The AFAM union ratified its initial contract after nearly two years of bargaining. This new contract secures annual wage increases totaling 13.6 percent over four years for all staff. Entry-level employees in the museum store, security, and facilities will receive raises between 8 and 22 percent, retroactive to July 1. The agreement also establishes a binding grievance procedure, provides additional pay for extra duties or emergency on-site work, limits the use of temporary employees, and ensures health-care coverage without employee premium contributions.

Richard Ho, director of information technologies at AFAM and a 25-year veteran of the museum, commented,“AFAM staff voted unanimously to unionize to address pressing concerns about our workplace. I'm happy that we were able to reach an agreement that will make the Museum a more sustainable place to work for all of us. I'm proud that our entire staff stayed involved and supported each other throughout this process.”

Earlier this year, the AFAM union had picketed the museum's annual fundraising gala to highlight stalled negotiations and protest an initial offer that would raise the minimum wage for front-facing staff from $19 to $21.50 an hour without guaranteeing existing benefits.

These recent agreements conclude a tense period of labor negotiations. In late September, unionized staff at the Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum, and AFAM conducted strike-authorization votes, citing concerns about job security, affordable health care, and wages aligning with New York City's cost of living.

The Guggenheim Museum union, established in 2021 and representing approximately 150 curators, conservators, educators, and public programmers, ratified its first contract in 2023, a two-and-a-half-year agreement. In February 2025, the museum had announced the layoff of 20 employees, representing 7 percent of its workforce. Mariët Westermann, the museum's director and chief executive since 2024, attributed this to a“financial picture” that had declined over the previous decade. Negotiations for a new contract began in December 2025, with the Guggenheim's bargaining unit seeking“strengthened job security provisions, including advance notice of layoffs, and improved severance pay,” according to a statement released during negotiations. Drew Reynolds, the union chair, described the February layoffs as having been“implemented chaotically.” In March, the Guggenheim union picketed the opening reception for its high-profile Carol Bove survey, protesting what members called repeated rejections of their demands by museum leadership.

According to UAW Local 2110, the Jewish Museum union also ratified its second contract in September. The Whitney Museum union, however, continues negotiations, with a strike date set for October 5, three days before member previews for its major Roy Lichtenstein retrospective. Around 200 Whitney employees unionized in 2021 after two rounds of layoffs reduced the workforce by 20 percent.

UAW Local 2110, which represents museum workers nationwide, stated it is currently negotiating new contracts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the Noguchi Museum.

We previously reported:

Unionized staff at the Brooklyn Museum and American Folk Art Museum will vote on ratifying tentative agreements, potentially averting strikes.

Source: ARTnews

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