On Friday, union workers at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts held a walkout calling for higher wages amid ongoing contract negotiations with the museum. Employees voted to unionize with UAW Local 2110 more than two years ago over complaints about working conditions, compensation, benefits, and more. While the union hammered out its first contract with MASS MoCA last December, the three-year agreement didn’t finalize a plan for wage increases for workers — leading to new rounds of negotiations this fall. Reached for comment by WAMC, the museum said that “we continue to carry forward both a spirit of optimism, and our commitment to bargaining as a mutual responsibility,” and that “MASS MoCA looks forward to continued negotiations, to maintain, in good faith, the commitment of elevating our employees while sustaining MASS MoCA’s community and culture through our mission and work together.” Local 2110 representative Chelsea Farrell tells WAMC that a strike isn’t off the table as talks continue.
FARRELL: Last year, we did settle our first contract at MASS MoCA as a three-year agreement, but we were unable to lock in sufficient increases for the second and the third years of the contract. So, we do have reopener bargaining over wages, and at the same time, when we're in bargaining, the no-strike clause is on the table as well. So, we do have striking rights. We entered bargaining in October. Actually, prior to even entering bargaining, our membership was called upon by our bargaining committee to take a strike authorization vote, which we passed overwhelmingly- I think, maybe 95% of members voting yes to give the committee the right to call for a strike should bargaining require that. And so, we've been in bargaining for about two months now and it's been fairly tough across the table. Management started with, frankly, a really insulting lowball offer of only 2%. across the table for folks. We have been able to move them to 2.5%, but that increase is- It's frankly, just not enough for our members, and it doesn't even keep up with inflation in the area. So, our bargaining committee called on members to take part in a one-hour walkout on Friday afternoon.
What exactly is it that would be an appropriate, equitable raise from the perspective of the union?
I don’t know if we have a number in mind but we need to be able to take something back to our members that does feel good, that does keep up with inflation, that feels fair across the board. The starting wage at MASS MoCA is $16.25. MASS MoCA has agreed in their last proposal to raise it to $16.75, but I think everyone knows that it's really just not enough for folks. It's barely over minimum wage, and costs are increasing, not just for MASS MoCA, but for our members. And they feel it at home, especially this time of year.
Let's put this in context- In the larger conversation about workers’ rights and fair pay in the culture industry, how does this conversation tie into larger national trends?
Well, I mean, I think – and, Josh, I think you've probably followed this, too – there's been really a remarkable explosion of organizing within cultural institutions in the last 10 years. But specifically, I think, throughout the pandemic, workers really realized how vulnerable their jobs are without actual job security and a union contract in place to protect folks in these really extreme circumstances. With MASS MoCA, in our first contract, I think folks did realize that cultural institutions were, they were reeling from the pandemic, they were rebuilding, they weren't seeing the visitation that they were because of just the effects of the of the pandemic. But now we're seeing, and I'm seeing this at a lot of other institutions, that places are starting to grow and trying to, getting back to not just the pre-pandemic levels of activity, but frankly, even higher levels of activity. And we're seeing, especially at MASS MoCA, a huge growth in top-level management level positions, six figure positions, and we aren't seeing any of that trickle down to the folks on the ground who are actually making it happen on the day-to-day. And again, I'm seeing similar trends at other organizations where the speed is picking back up, but it's really lagging behind with the workers, and whether it be in wages, staffing levels, these sorts of things, management isn't keeping those things up when they're trying to move full steam ahead on other plans.
So, what's next for this process?
We have a bargaining session scheduled on Wednesday, and we'll have to see where it goes through from there. As I said, we do have the right to call for a strike should it require, but we certainly are hopeful we can reach a fair contract without that.
