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(NEW YORK CITY) – Unionized Staff employed at three major New York City Museums have voted to authorize a Strike action if they do not receive fair offers on their contract.<\/p>\n
Workers at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) have each voted overwhelmingly to authorize their Bargaining Committee to set a Strike deadline – if necessary.<\/p>\n
No Strike deadline has been set yet – but each of the museums has a major exhibition opening scheduled for early October.<\/p>\n
Workers at all three institutions say they are ready to Strike if no fair agreement is reached.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that we want to strike,\u201d said Derrick Charles, a Membership Associate at the Whitney and a Union Chairperson. \u201cWe\u2019d rather be working and doing our jobs – but our wages are untenable for making ends meet in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n
Employed in the Visitor and Membership Services Department, Charles works in the lobby of the Whitney, selling tickets and memberships to visitors and answering questions.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been in the position since 2018 and earns $24 per hour. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The Union says all three Museums need to raise minimum pay rates for Staff and points to average wages for its Members that are below the $71,000 per year that the City recently cited as needed for a single adult to afford to live in New York in its NYC True Cost of Living Measure Annual Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n