In an update to a story we've previously reported on, two weeks after jointly voting to authorize strike action with the Whitney Museum’s union amid stalled contract negotiations unionized staff at the Brooklyn Museum and the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) are preparing to vote on ratifying tentative agreements with their respective institutions.
In contrast with the Whitney union, which recently set a strike deadline of October 5, the tentative agreements with AFAM and the Brooklyn Museum emerged before either union publicized a strike date, potentially averting the escalation altogether. All three museum unions have organized under UAW Local 2110, which represents the labor force across myriad cultural institutions in New York City and nationwide.
The Brooklyn Museum and AFAM unions announced their tentative agreements on their Instagram pages, each noting that they’re set to vote on the ratification starting September 29. The parameters of either proposal have not yet been revealed, though all three unions have been mobilizing for a wage floor of around $71,000 for full-time employees — the minimum figure that New York City Hall recently calculated for a single, childless adult to live sustainably in NYC.
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