On September 26th, 2022, over 180 workers from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), went on strike. According to Adam Rizzo, the Local 397 Executive Board President, the reason was simple: “[The strikers] are out here because negotiations with management stalled and they are unwilling to offer improvements to our healthcare or our pay.”
Tensions between workers at the PMA and their management board are not new; back in May of 2020, just a few months after the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the country, a supermajority of union-eligible staff voted to unionize in connection to the District Council 47 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME DC47). In a statement issued by the Philadelphia Museum of Art Union, they claimed that they felt as though it was necessary for “workers to have a say in our own working conditions, especially when our workplaces are also public spaces.”
In June of 2020, the recently introduced union accused the museum board of being unwilling to work with them, and issued a press release in response asking the PMA management to fully recognize the union and communicate with them on an official basis. On August 6, 2020, the workers at the PMA voted to officially unionize in a historic landslide win of 89%. Fast forward to August of 2022, and the PMA Union had filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the management, claiming that the PMA management was “repeatedly violating federal law by engaging in union-busting activity during contract negotiations.” After a strike warning on September 15, 2022, the PMA Union Workers officially went on strike this past Monday.
In an interview conducted by the Bi-Co Newspaper on Thursday, September 29, President Adam Rizzo outlined the importance of this strike for the workers of the PMA, saying, “A lot of us in the unit have not received a raise in three years; we have really expensive healthcare so we can’t afford to go to doctors.”
“I think the outstanding issues at the negotiating table… are around pay, healthcare, and that’s really it. We’ve [the union] have kind of cleared all the non-economic issues off the table, so this is really the moment where the museum needs to treat its staff with respect and dignity,” Rizzo stated the specific hopes and goals for the strike.
The Bi-Co News talked to some of the strikers standing at the picket line. One, who had been working in the conservation department for a little over a year, outlined the core reasons why they were striking, saying, “The unfair treatment from management in regard to fair pay, fair healthcare, and other issues like maternity leave. We’ve already met with management multiple times and haven’t received the best feedback and negotiations haven’t been done fairly.”
When asked if he saw an end to the strike anytime soon, Adam Rizzo responded by saying, “I’m hopeful this will be like a reality check for them, the managers are inside running the ticket desk and you know trying to keep the museum open….I’ve heard it’s chaotic inside, so I really hope this comes to a resolution soon.”
The Philadelphia Museum of Art did not respond to a request for comment.
