AFSCME continuing the fight for worker protections in Baltimore museum

Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Baltimore Museum of Arts, Leila Grothe, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the formation of the Baltimore Museum of Arts Union, a new member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Cultural Workers United.

Grothe has worked in the visual arts for 20 years, with the last four years at the Baltimore Museum of Arts. Grothe first learned about a unionizing effort in the summer of 2021, and the effort was taken public in September 2021. It was a long wait to vote for unionizing, but in July 2022, the workers voted to join a union. It’s only been a year since the unit was officially recognized, and they are still in the first contract negotiations with their employer.

While the unionizing efforts began during the pandemic, it wasn’t the main reason the workers were seeking to join a union. The long hours and consistently low pay were the driving forces behind the pro-union effort, Grothe said. In a survey of the bargaining unit, 86 percent of the surveyed members had previously considered leaving the museum due to the low pay. Unionizing was the apparent path to providing workers a seat at the table to improve the working conditions.

There are now 29 states with unionized museums in the cultural sector. In Grothe’s memory, she can’t think of a time that unionizing efforts by a cultural sector museum have failed. The needs of museum workers aren’t just limited to the Baltimore Museum of Arts but have long been a problem across the museum industry. While it is a long process to become a union member, it’s proven necessary to protect the workers and provide them with access to the opportunities to make the job a career.

To hear more from Grothe, listen to the episode above.