LACMA Workers Vote to Unionize With AFSCME

Workers at the the Los Angeles County Museum of Art voted to unionize with AFSCME District Council 36, the union announced on Wednesday. The new union, LACMA United, will represent around 300 workers across the museum, from curators to art handlers. Workers announced their plan to unionize in late October, citing high turnover, low wages compared to the city s rising cost of living, and a lack of transparency from management.

The group sent out an open letter, addressed to colleagues and management, writing that ensuring the stability of our staff is crucial to LACMA s future. Many employees are struggling with wages that have not kept up with the rising cost of living in the sixth-most expensive city in the world, it reads. At the same time, employees in virtually every department continue to absorb expanded responsibilities and workloads, often without additional compensation, due to high turnover, limited resources, and positions that have been vacated or frozen.

LACMA leadership declined to voluntarily recognize LACMA United in November, opting instead to pursue an election facilitated by the American Arbitration Association and approved by the National Labor Relations Board. The election took place electronically on Monday and Tuesday, with 96 percent of those voting in favor of the unionization effort with AFSCME. The museum is just the latest major institution to have its staff unionize. As LACMA United noted in its press release, in LA alone, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Academy Museum and Foundation, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and La Brea Tar Pits have all won voluntary recognition for their unions.

And, just last month, workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art petitioned the NLRB to approve a bargaining unit of roughly 1,000 museum workers. If it succeeds, it would give the Met one of the largest museum unions in the US. LACMA did not respond to a request for comment at press time.