Whitney Museum Workers Reach Contract Deal Hours Before Strike Deadline

Unionized staff at the Whitney Museum in New York ratified its second contract Sunday night, hours ahead a strike deadline, narrowly heading off a disruption to the opening of a forthcoming Roy Lichtenstein retrospective.

Under the new contract, every Whitney employee will receive a wage increase of at least 14.75 percent over four years. Workers with the lowest salaries will receive larger raises, ranging from 5 to 23 percent in the first year. The agreement also introduces longevity bonuses for staff with at least 10 years of service, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave, stronger health and safety protections, and more bereavement leave. Minimum pay rates for new hires will also increase.

“This contract was hard fought,” said Katie Fong, a curatorial assistant who was part of the union’s bargaining committee. “I’m particularly proud that we’ve made significant gains for some of the lowest-compensated museum staff, especially front of house, facilities and curatorial staff.”

The inaugural three-year contract between the museum and nearly 200 staffers represented by United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2110 expired in June, while negotiations for a new agreement have been underway since May. The union’s foremost demand has been a contract that guarantees wages commensurate with the skyrocketing cost of living for a single adult New Yorker. After months of negotiations failed to yield a satisfactory agreement, the union approved strike action earlier this month in a vote held in tandem with unions at the Brooklyn Museum and American Folk Art Museum.

The strike was set to begin at the Whitney on October 5—three days before member previews were scheduled to begin for the museum’s Roy Lichtenstein exhibition. Crisis, it seems, averted.

“Solidarity across all ranks of our union made a huge difference at the end,” said Erika Wentworth, who works on museum’s graphic design team. “The Museum knew we were serious about striking and in these last few days, we made a lot of progress.”

The Whitney’s agreement is the latest in a string of contract wins for Local 2110 unions at New York City museums. Over the past month, staff at the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM), the Brooklyn Museum, the Jewish Museum, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum have all ratified new contracts, most after more than a year of negotiations. At AFAM, workers ratified the union’s first contract, which included raises for all entry-level employees, as well as security and facilities staff.

The Brooklyn Museum union, which negotiated under tense circumstances that included the possibility of staff layoffs, won guaranteed annual raises and higher minimum salaries for full-time positions, ranging from $63,585 to $129,854 depending on the role.

Meanwhile, negotiations for new contracts are ongoing at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Noguchi Museum, according to Local 2110.