{"id":358028,"date":"2026-06-12T16:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/358028\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T16:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:27:15","slug":"cal-academy-workers-rally-in-san-francisco-for-financial-audit-following-layoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/358028\/","title":{"rendered":"Cal Academy workers rally in San Francisco for financial audit following layoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOLLOWING RECENT layoff notices, California Academy of Sciences<\/a> employees gathered in front of City Hall on Thursday to call for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to conduct a full audit of the Academy\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

About 20 current and former employees of the Academy brought instruments, noisemakers and handmade crafts. A life-sized puppet of Claude \u2014 the beloved albino alligator who lived at the Academy until his death late last year<\/a> \u2014 was there to show his support.<\/p>\n

\"\"California Academy of Science employees (L-R) John Daniel and Sam Richey operated a life-size puppet of Claude the albino alligator at a rally at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Valerie Conklin\/Bay City News)<\/p>\n

There have been several rounds of layoffs over the last six years, the most recent in April that included at least 38 Cal Academy Workers United union members.<\/p>\n

The California Academy of Sciences did not respond to a request for comment, but former Executive Director Scott Sampson released a message about the April layoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur dedicated staff members are the lifeblood of the Academy and are instrumental in propelling our mission forward,\u201d said Sampson, who is serving in an advisory capacity after resigning last month.<\/p>\n

Sampson said that the staff reductions might feel especially challenging because there had been two other layoffs since 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cNevertheless, while eliminating some staff positions is painful, it is clear that these actions are necessary to reduce our expenses and eliminate our deficit,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to believe they really think these layoffs are the only way they have of ensuring long-term viability of the institution,\u201d said Teddy Vollman, the union chapter president and a presenter and guide at the Academy. \u201cUnfortunately, their actions speak louder than their words. We at Cal Academy Workers United have made a shared sacrifice proposal where executives would take a pay cut to preserve the institution. They refused it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire planetarium team and more than half of the creative studio responsible for graphic design are among the recent layoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could have the most interesting, accurate, and understandable topic in the world, but if were simply typed out in 12-point Helvetica on an 8 1\/2-by-11 sheet of printer paper and taped to the wall, practically nobody would care,\u201d said Vollman. \u201cThe creative studio is what makes an exhibit eye catching.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nLeft: Natalie Kramm, a fundraiser at the California Academy of Sciences, speaks at a rally in front of San Francisco City Hall on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Kramm described programs they fear could be cut if the museum\u2019s financial troubles continue. Right: Teddy Vollman calls on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to audit the California Academy of Sciences during the rally. Behind him is a life-size puppet of Claude the alligator, the museum\u2019s former unofficial ambassador. (Valerie Conklin\/Bay City News)<\/p>\n

A media advisory from the union said that workers have collected over 3,000 signatures on a petition calling for the Board of Trustees to rescind their layoffs and commit to not replacing their employees with contractors or AI.<\/p>\n

Natalie Kramm, a fundraiser at the Academy, spoke at the rally.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would think after 173 years the academy\u2019s unsinkable,\u201d they said. \u201cBut recently we\u2019ve seen other iconic Bay Area institutions like the California College of the Arts<\/a> and SF Arts Institute go under, leaving the rest of us to scratch our heads, pick up the pieces and wonder how we let this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The workers spoke to the Board of Supervisors shortly after the rally, seeking an audit like the one released in May of the San Francisco Zoo<\/a>. According to their website, the Academy receives about 10% of their funding from the city. Workers also called on the public to speak on their behalf at the budget hearing later Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOLLOWING RECENT layoff notices, California Academy of Sciences employees gathered in front of City Hall on Thursday to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2085,45378,145796,6113,101,34860,103,102,7108,104,106,105,5476],"class_list":["post-358028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-audit","tag-california-academy-of-sciences","tag-claude-the-alligator","tag-layoffs","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-board-of-supervisors","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-san-francisco-zoo","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-unions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}