Striking workers at the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, an Upper Manhattan institution dedicated to Portuguese and Spanish art, staged an action outside the home of the Upper East Side board chairman, Philippe de Montebello, today April 19. The small group of around 20 employees went on strike on March 27 and has not been paid since.
The Hispanic Society’s professional workforce (curators, curators, librarians, and educators, among other employees) unionized in July 2021 after the museum cut its pension plan. Workers had long accepted lower wages in exchange for free pensions and health care. They joined UAW Local 2110which represents museum workers across the city.
Negotiations for the workers’ first union contract began in September 2021 but stalled on healthcare: the museum wanted to scrap free employee insurance.
“Everything was paid for, we compromised on the low pay so they would pay for the medical care,” binder Michelle Nani said. Hyperallergic. She has worked full-time at the Hispanic Society since 2003 and part-time since 1989. “Now they want to take away our medical insurance. It will not make up for the small increase we will get.
Outside de Montebello’s apartment, workers from the Hispanic Society were joined by UAW staffers in the small action, which lasted about an hour. The picketers chanted, “How disgusting, anti-union! and “What’s outrageous, poverty wages!” as well as Spanish slogans such as “Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, ¿qué queremos? Un contrato” and “Sí se puede! De Montibello did not show up.
The museum presented its latest contract offer on March 3. Although it offered wage increases, the proposal included employee insurance contributions ranging from 2.5% to 12.5%, depending on the worker’s income.
The two sides met with a federal mediator on April 3 and, in a statement shared with Hyperallergic, the museum says it is now willing to continue to cover 100% of health care premiums for current employees, but will require future employees to pay 10% to 25% of the premium. The institution says it would continue to pay workers’ deductibles in both cases.
“It comes down to breaking unions,” Librarian Javier Milligan said of the tiered insurance system. “It’s a way to weaken the union.”
Since 2021, Local 2110 has filed five charges of unfair labor practices against Hispanic society.
The union also alleges that the Hispanic Society mismanages its collection. Workers cited a lack of temperature screening, insufficient collection staff and a dangerous April 13 delivery of works including “The Duchess of Alba(1797). The museum said in a statement shared with Hyperallergic that the delivery was “properly handled and went smoothly as planned”.
The Hispanic Society has been closed for renovations since 2017, except for a rotating exhibit space. Reopening dates have been pushed back several times and no firm date has been set. Meanwhile, workers are not being paid and negotiations are at a standstill. No bargaining session has taken place since the start of the strike.
“It’s in the power of management to sort this out,” said Patrick Lenaghan, curator of print and photography, a 28-year veteran of the museum. “We made as many concessions as possible. They must move.
He added that “nobody wants to be on strike”, but “we cannot go back to a situation where we are going to be looked down upon and treated badly”.
Milligan reiterated that point, saying he was tired of going on strike and wanted to get back to work, but believed he and his co-workers deserved a fair contract.
“I’m thinking of myself and future workers,” Milligan said.
