New York Museum Unions Ratify Contracts as Whitney Strike Looms

Key facts

• UAW Local 2110 announced that unionized staff at the Brooklyn Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Jewish Museum, and American Folk Art Museum ratified new contracts.
• The Brooklyn Museum and AFAM finalized four-year contracts this week; the Guggenheim and Jewish Museum ratified agreements in September.
• Brooklyn Museum's second contract raises full-time minimum salaries to $63,585–$129,854, retroactive to July 1, with a 10.34 percent further increase by contract end.
• AFAM's inaugural contract provides 13.6 percent total wage increases over four years, with entry-level raises of 8–22 percent retroactive to July 1.
• The Brooklyn Museum agreement follows early 2025 layoff plans—over 10 percent of staff amid a $10 million deficit—that never materialized after protests and a $2.5 million New York City Council grant.
• The Guggenheim union, about 150 workers, ratified its first contract in 2023; after February 2025 layoffs of 20 employees, negotiations for a new contract began in December 2025.
• The Whitney Museum union, roughly 200 employees, remains at the bargaining table with a strike date of October 5, three days before member previews for its Roy Lichtenstein retrospective.
• Local 2110 is currently negotiating new contracts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Museum of Contemporary Art, South Street Seaport Museum, and Noguchi Museum.