1 min read

Season 4, Episode 236

Brooklyn Museum workers earn first contract and wage improvements

Picture of awfblog awfblog November 29, 2023

America's Work Force Union Podcast Health, Welfare, and Safety AWF Contracts Community Involvement United Auto Workers Economic Impact

AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_UAW

 

Guest Name:

Maida Rosenstein

Guest Website:

https://uaw.org/ 

Guest Social Media:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

LinkedIn

Mentions:

An organizer for the United Auto Workers, Maida Rosenstein, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the union’s new contract with the Brooklyn Museum. Rosenstein also discussed the UAW’s campaign during negotiations and some of the wins in the first contract.

It was a successful past two years for earning first contracts in the Museum and Arts industry, including a recent contract ratification at the Brooklyn Museum. In her 40 years of work in the labor movement, Rosenstein is not sure if she has ever seen a more successful period for organizing. At the Brooklyn Museum, they won a union vote with over 90 percent approval in 2021.

Negotiations began in earnest in 2022 for the first contract. Workers were fighting for improved wages and better working conditions, but there was no budging from the museum. The union ran a very active campaign throughout the two-year negotiation period, holding multiple demonstrations and rallies and passing out informational leaflets. Finally, after no budging from the museum, the union set a strike date for early November 2023. This resulted in the museum returning to the negotiating table, and they were able to get together on a first contract.

The contract includes guarantees of a yearly pay raise, a 23 percent wage increase during the life of the contract and improvements to healthcare costs. The museum had a poor track record of providing raises to employees. According to Rosenstein, the wage improvements were the most difficult part of the contract negotiations. With the first contract in place now, there is a hope that there will be improved relations between the museum and workers. 

For more on the Brooklyn Museum’s first contract, please listen to the show above.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

SUBSCRIBE ON:

Group 342

Group 341

Group 343

Group 339

Group 397

Group 397