**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR WED., FEB. 19**

Contact: Jennie Smith-Camejo, jennie.smith-camejo@seiu1021.org, (510) 710-0201

Workers from museums from around the Bay Area — including Cal Academy of Sciences, Asian Art Museum, Exploratorium, de Young, Legion of Honor, SFMOMA, Oakland Museum of California, and Bay Area Discovery Museum — will be dressing for dinner and meeting outside the California Association of Museums Conference ahead of its Director’s Dinner on Wednesday evening. They are not directors and are not invited to the dinner — but they are nonetheless demanding their place at the proverbial table as partners.

Who: Unionized workers from 8 prominent Bay Area museums
What: Rally to call attention to need for living wages and shared governance
Where: Outside Parc 55 Hotel, 55 Cyril Magnin St.
When: Wed., Feb. 19, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Visuals: Museum workers dressed for dinner with handmade picket signs, marching, chanting, and making noise with spoons, pots, and pans

Part of a nationwide wave of museum union organizing, these workers — members of three different unions — are united in their commitment to and concern about the missions and futures of their institutions. Whether arts, science, or history, Bay Area museums are facing challenges on every front: reduced attendance since the pandemic, reductions in philanthropic donations, and now the freezing of federal funding, including grants. As federal cuts trickle down to the state and city governments, it will take a huge effort to preserve these institutions not just for today but for generations to come. 

Yet instead of treating their staff as partners, too often museum leaders have been perpetuating the systemic inequality endemic to corporate America: top-down management that operates with little transparency, boards that appear to engage in self-dealing, executives paying themselves excessive salaries and awarding themselves huge raises and bonuses even as they tell line staff that budgets are bleak.

The different museums’ staff are in different phases of organizing: Cal Academy workers are still fighting for a first contract after winning their union in July of 2023; Oakland Museum of California’s union was voluntarily recognized by management last March and is also still negotiating a first contract. Bay Area Discovery Museum workers have supermajority support for a union and are asking management to voluntarily recognize their union. Exploratorium workers ratified a new contract late last year; Asian Art Museum workers will start negotiations for a new contract in the coming months. Despite having different immediate demands for their employers, they see their long-term goals as very much aligned.

“Our cultural institutions, whether they be in the arts, sciences, or education, are under attack by the Trump administration because they are part of the fabric of democratic culture. We’ve always seen our society struggle with commitment to democratic funding for cultural institutions– tight budgets often put arts and culture on the chopping block first,” said Ian Hart, an exhibits preparator at the California Academy of Sciences.

“We love what we do. We work in museums because we believe in their missions and values. And most importantly because we believe in serving the public. We want to make sure our museums are here for the next generation and the one after that, and that they are there for everyone in our communities. We are critical to making that happen. We want our directors to acknowledge that and work with us and really tap into our experience and knowledge to defend our institutions and deepen democracy instead of fighting us or treating us as disposable.”

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SEIU Local 1021 represents nearly 60,000 employees in local governments, nonprofit agencies, health care programs, courts, and schools throughout Northern California, including seven private colleges and numerous community colleges. SEIU Local 1021 is a diverse, member-driven organization with members who work to make our cities, schools, colleges, counties, and special districts safe and healthy places to live and raise our families.