Art Gallery of Ontario Shutters as Workers Strike

The Art Gallery of Ontario closed its doors to the public on March 26 as more than four hundred unionized workers went on strike in an effort to obtain higher wages as the cost of living increases. According to a statement issued by OPSEU/SEFPO Local 535, which represents the striking employees, the action follows the breakdown of ten months of talks, which have not yet resulted in a contract. Union officials pointed to management’s latest offer as falling short in terms of wage increases and protections for precarious part-time workers.

“As public service employees, we were hit right in the paycheck during the pandemic,” union president Paul Ayers said in a statement. “While we struggled through a public health crisis and three years of unconstitutional wage freezes, elite executives made hundreds of thousands. We need a deal that helps us stay afloat in a cost-of-living crisis in the most expensive city in Canada—and the AGO’s latest offer falls short of that.”

Among the striking employees are curators, archivists, designers, researchers, technicians, and front desk staff. A number of these rallied around the darkened institution at 8 AM on March 26  bearing signs reading “Modern Art, Medieval Wages,” “Show Me the Monet,” and “Is Fairness a Fantasy?,” the last illustrated with a drawing of a weeping unicorn.The strike comes as the museum, which has not yet seen attendance return to pre-pandemic levels, struggles with a deficit thought to be around C$1 million (US$740,000). It also comes as the museum prepares to undergo a transformative expansion, one that will see it build a C$100 million contemporary art gallery estimated to provide it with roughly 40,000 more square feet. Canada Goose founder Dani Reiss has donated C$35 million toward the project.

AGO spokesperson Laura Quinn, in an emailed statement to CBC News, said that the museum remained “hopeful” that an agreement could be reached.