Tuesday, February 18, the proud employees who keep Sausalito’s Bay Area Discovery Museum functioning — including teachers, program coordinators, visitor service coordinators, and technicians — won union recognition.

Bay Area Discovery Museum voluntarily agreed to recognize their union after a third-party mediation service verified that 77% of museum employees signed authorization cards to join SEIU 1021. 

Workers at Bay Area Discovery Museum are joining a movement of five other SEIU 1021-represented museums in the Bay Area — Cal Academy of Sciences, Asian Art Museum, Exploratorium, de Young, and Legion of Honor.

Despite escalating attacks on labor unions at the federal level, SEIU 1021 members at museums are building coalitions with other museum unions to raise standards throughout the nonprofit museum industry. 

Ultimately, by raising workplace standards, SEIU 1021 members who work at museums are raising their museums’ ability to inspire and educate the public — a mission dedicated to preserving the truth in the sciences, arts, and history.

Sofia Estebecorena Prieto, a bilingual playful learning facilitator, said, “After months of organizing, I’m ecstatic that we’ve successfully won our union at Bay Area Discovery Museum. With the unity we’ve created amongst our coworkers, not only can we hold management accountable to us, but we will hold management closer to our shared mission of promoting science to children. I can’t wait to begin the contract negotiation process.”