Mass MoCA Workers Strike as Wage Negotiations Stall

Unionized employees of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) are on strike after failing to reach a contract agreement with museum management following five months of negotiations. Armed with signs bearing slogans such as “I Don’t Want to Strike but I Will” and “Great Art, Lousy Pay,” workers on March 6 formed a picket line outside the North Adams, Massachusetts, institution, urging visitors not to cross. Ninety-seven percent of union members voted in favor of the strike.

Organized in 2021 under the auspices of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2110, which represents workers at arts institutions along the eastern seaboard, the union staged asingle-day strikein August 2022 in an effort to gain a fair wage. The brief action resulted in theratifying, months later, of the union’s inaugural contract, which gave workers the opportunity to negotiate additional wage increases in October 2023. The union is currently asking for a minimum hourly wage of $18.25 and a minimum salary increase of 4.5 percent in 2024; the museum has offered $17.25 and a 3.5 percent increase.

“Currently, Mass MoCA management’s offer does not keep up with inflation and the rising cost of living, leaving our members unable to cover the expenses of living in Berkshire County,” the union said in astatement.

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’sLiving Wage Calculator, a childless individual living in Berkshire County, where Mass MoCA is located, would need to make $21.83 per hour to cover basic needs such as food, housing, medical care, and transportation.

The museum in a press release noted that its proposed minimum wage was higher than any state-mandated minimum wage in the US and pointed to wage and equity increases that it said had yielded 39.6 percent growth since 2018.

“We are extremely disappointed that the United Auto Workers union has decided to reject our wage increase offer by taking action against MASS MoCA in the form of an indefinite strike,” said Mass MoCA director Kristy Edmunds in astatement.