Guggenheim Workers Rally For Labor Rights During VIP Event

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Unionized staff at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum rallied outside the museum Wednesday evening as negotiations continued for a new labor contract.

More than 40 members of the Guggenheim's chapter of UAW Local 2110 demonstrated in front of the museum’s Fifth Avenue entrance, between East 88th and East 89th streets, during a VIP reception for a major new exhibition by artist Carol Bove.

The union also represents workers at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the New Museum, the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, the Noguchi Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The workers, who unionized in 2021 and reached their first contract in 2023, are currently negotiating their second agreement with museum leadership after their most recent contract expired Jan. 1.

"If we don't get a fair wage, I can't put food on my table," Simone Sanchez, a visitor experience associate at the Guggenheim, told Patch.

Sanchez, who lives in the Bronx, makes $24 an hour and is supporting their partner and two pets. Sanchez said they have worked at the Guggenheim for nearly five years.

"Negotiations have been very stagnant since we started in December," Sanchez said. "It's not fair to be dismissed at every intersection."

Union representatives say job security has become a key issue in the talks after layoffs last year that they described as abrupt and poorly handled.

"Last year, there was a mass layoff at the Guggenheim, and we had long-term workers who were marched out of here without any advance notice," Maida Rosenstein, the director of organizing at UAW Local 2110, told Patch.

Union negotiators are also pushing for higher wages and lower employee health care costs. According to the union, entry-level staff currently earn about $24 an hour, and roughly half of museum employees make less than $71,000 per year.

"We met some real intransigence from management on things that are really important to us," Rosenstein said.

Health insurance costs are another sticking point. Workers earning under $75,000 annually pay about $4,700 per year for family coverage or roughly $1,600 for individual coverage, according to the union.

Employees earning more than $75,000 pay more than $6,200 for family plans and more than $2,000 for individual coverage, not including deductibles and co-pays.

"Tonight we're trying to put pressure on the museum to come to the bargaining table. We are hoping that this rally will show that workers are serious about getting a fair contract," Drew Reynolds, a museum educator and the union's chair, told Patch at the protest, before grabbing the megaphone to lead a chant.

The museum did not respond to Patch’s request for comment by publication time, but the article will be updated when it does.

The Guggenheim is located at 1071 Fifth Ave. on the Upper East Side.

For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.