NEW YORK (PIX11)\u2014Staff members at some of New York City’s most popular museums have voted overwhelmingly to authorize their bargaining committee to set a strike deadline.<\/p>\n
Workers at the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Brooklyn Museum, and The American Folk Art Museum say they are ready to strike.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Discover more local reporting on our homepage\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n No strike date is set yet, but each museum has a major exhibition opening scheduled for early October.\u00a0<\/p>\n Staff members are organized with United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2110.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It’s not that we want to strike,” says Derrick Charles, a Membership Associate at the Whitney and Union Chairperson. “We’d rather be working and doing our jobs, but our wages are untenable for making ends meet in New York City.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The Union states that all three museums should raise staff pay, citing that their average wages are below the $71,000 annual income needed for a single adult in NYC, as per the City’s NYC True Cost of Living Measure Annual Report<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n A pressperson at The Whitney Museum states the institution continues bargaining in good faith and is committed to reaching a fair, reasonable contract that meets all parties’ needs.<\/p>\n Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here<\/a>.<\/p>\n