Guggenheim Museum curators and conservators seek unionization with UAW

At the Guggenheim Museum in New York, a group of curators, conservators, and editors is working to form a union with the United Auto Workers, marking the museum's second attempt at this in a few years. They've filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to facilitate a vote for about 160 workers. The museum's management has acknowledged the employees' right to organize and will provide more information soon. Many are motivated by job security concerns heightened by the pandemic, along with issues of racial equity and diversity. In 2019, the museum established its first union, which included 22 full-time and 145 on-call staff, and a contract was finalized earlier this year. Past challenges included management threats related to job security. This effort is part of a broader trend of labor organizing in U.S. cultural institutions.