About 120 UAW 2110 workers at MASS MoCA have been on strike since March 6th as they demand wages that meet an ever-rising cost-of-living standard in Berkshire County. The museum maintains it will not agree to a contract that would threaten its operations as a nonprofit cultural institution.
“I think we'd really like to be able to work together with management, like, it's really confusing for us, because we don't see why we don't see why there's a reality where we can't work together to make this a better place," union member Joey Rainone told WAMC on the picket line on March 11th. “The museum has a budget and has to maintain that budget to function, and we are privy to that and understand because it affects us in the day-to-day. But at the same time, if I can't go home and buy groceries, or if I have coworkers that have to move home, they have to leave town because they're not making enough money- Like, if you're going to rely on the high turnover rate to keep people quiet and to keep them from pitching a fit about terrible wages, like your business model is going to fail. And we don't want to participate in a system like that.”
Six months after they first began, another round of talks between museum management and union workers on Saturday again failed to yield a compromise.
In a statement, MASS MoCA Director Kristy Edmunds said that “[the museum is] a not-for-profit arts organization that exists as a cultural service, and [is] continuing to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic as are other arts organizations nationwide. We are an anchoring organization for the region and help uplift a tourism economy that businesses here rely on. We do not earn profits nor do we function in a commercial landscape.”
Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren offered the striking workers some high-profile support last week by reposting WAMC coverage of the work stoppage to say she stood with the union.
With no end to the impasse in sight, elected officials in North Adams are also wading into the fray.
“I think it's an unfortunate situation that we have one of our major institutions here in North Adams not negotiating with the workers who make up that institution," said City Council Vice President Ashley Shade, who says she stands in solidarity with the workers. “I think we all understand and have all been affected by inflation in the area, especially over the past few years. Costs have gone up tremendously across the board, and so, it's really important for wages to also coincide with that. So, I think it's really important that the workers are taking a stand and fighting for what they feel are fair wages, and I hope that a resolution comes quickly.”
MASS MoCA inhabits the campus of the former Sprague Electric Company — a living representation of North Adams’ shift from the decline of manufacturing jobs to an economy based on arts and culture tourism.
“People are looking for career-oriented jobs and not just paycheck to paycheck or needing to work multiple jobs to sustain a living, and what you're seeing happening at MASS MoCA is people in positions where they're being paid barely above minimum wage when they've been working there for over a decade," Shade told WAMC. "It's just not sustainable to have lower wages, and it's not sustainable to have dead end or paycheck to paycheck jobs in this area anymore. We need real career opportunities for the people that live here, and MASS MoCA as one of our cultural institutions should be able and willing to provide those opportunities.”
City Councilor Andrew Fitch, the top vote-getter in last year’s municipal election, says he thinks the workers’ demands are reasonable — and that the situation needs to be resolved as quickly as possible.
“I think the reputation of our city is at stake, I think the reputation of our biggest cultural attraction, MASS MoCA, is at stake and of course, the futures of the workers is at stake, because they do need to be able to get by on their salaries," Fitch told WAMC. "I was so proud out there on the on the picket line, hearing the chant, ‘get up, get down, North Adams is a union town.’ I'm proud of North Adams, I'm proud of that part of North Adams, and I'm proud of MASS MoCA. And so yeah, just- If anyone's listening to this can who can maybe help resolve the situation, I hope they're able to take some action.”
