Final week, employees on the Los Angeles County Museum of Artwork (Lacma) introduced their intent to unionise final week as a part of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers (AFSCME). The brand new union, Lacma United, will characterize greater than 300 museum staff throughout departments together with curatorial, customer providers, training, publications and extra.
Employees concerned within the organising effort cite fairer compensation, expanded advantages and elevated transparency as central motivations for the union push. The union will be part of the AFSCME Cultural Employees United District Council 36, the identical native that has supported profitable campaigns at Los Angeles establishments together with the Museum of Up to date Artwork, the Academy Museum of Movement Photos, the Pure Historical past Museum of Los Angeles County and the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum.
“I’ve had the privilege of modifying books and exhibition supplies at Lacma for practically 25 years,” says Sara Cody, a senior publications editor on the museum. “However as departments have shrunk and workloads have grown more and more unsustainable, it’s change into an increasing number of difficult to uphold the extent of excellence these tasks deserve. Forming our union will be sure that all of us have the sources and respect to persistently produce our greatest work because the museum strikes ahead.”
In a letter addressed to different Lacma staff, the museum’s govt crew and its board of administrators, dated 29 October, organisers with Lacma United wrote partly: “Many staff are battling wages that haven’t saved up with the rising price of residing within the sixth-most costly metropolis on this planet. On the identical time, staff in nearly each division proceed to soak up expanded duties and workloads, typically with out further compensation, because of excessive turnover, restricted sources and positions which were vacated or frozen.”
The newly organised group has requested that the museum voluntarily recognise the union by 5 November.
“For a few years, my co-workers and I’ve been requested to do extra with much less,” Alyce de Carteret, an assistant curator of the artwork of the Historical Americas at Lacma, mentioned in a press release. “What we accomplish collectively is a direct results of our dedication regardless of an absence of sources and correct help. Think about what we may do with extra.”
In a press release share with The Artwork Newspaper Michael Govan, Lacma’s chief govt and director, mentioned: “Museum management has obtained the letter from Lacma United. We’re reviewing it fastidiously and really a lot look ahead to persevering with to help our wonderful employees.”
The workers’ unionising effort coincides with a interval of development for Lacma. On 1 November, Lacma held the 14th version of its annual Artwork+Movie gala, with attendees together with Cynthia Erivo, Salma Hayek Pinault, Cindy Crawford, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dustin Hoffman, Demi Moore, George Lucas, Tessa Thompson and Kristin Wiig, plus a efficiency by Doja Cat. The occasion raised practically $6.5m, the most important take within the gala’s historical past.
The museum can also be within the ultimate phases of setting up a $720m new constructing, the David Geffen Galleries, designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. Scheduled to open in April 2026, the brand new constructing will show works from Lacma’s everlasting location in raised galleries that may stretch throughout Wilshire Boulevard.
Over the past 5 years, museum staff throughout the US have been unionising at an unprecedented fee, spurred by Covid-era layoffs and furloughs, post-pandemic austerity measures, stagnant wages and rising consciousness of systemic inequities inside main cultural establishments. Employees at museums throughout the nation—together with the Whitney Museum of American Artwork, the Philadelphia Artwork Museum, the Massachusetts Museum of Up to date Artwork, the Denver Artwork Museum and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum—have fashioned unions. These efforts have broadened definitions of cultural labour, bringing educators, customer providers employees, retail staff and curators into the identical conversations about worth and visibility. Whereas some establishments have embraced collective bargaining, others have resisted unionising campaigns.
A current survey of three,000 museum staff by Museums Transferring Ahead (MMF) means that, though circumstances for museum staff who’re in unions have improved modestly for the reason that survey’s earlier iteration, deep inequities in pay and alternatives for development persist. The 2025 MMF report options enter from employees throughout establishments nationwide and consists of a number of distinguished stakeholders, amongst them Lacma’s vp of training and public programmes, Naima Keith.
