(NEW YORK CITY) – Unionized Art Handlers and Facilities Workers employed at the Guggenheim in New York City recently used one of their lunch breaks to rally for a fair contract, as negotiations are entering the sixth month.

Staff at the prestigious Art Museum are represented by International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 30, the Labor Organization that they officially organized in 2019. 

Employees ratified their first contract by 2021.

Members are demanding wages that reflect market rate, a 2.5% increase to retirement and health care benefits, improved safety standards and better onboarding orientation for new Workers.

During the demonstration, an LED sign truck flashed slogans calling for family-sustaining wages for Cultural Workers and for Guggenheim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Marcy Withington to give them a fair agreement.

“The fact is, and this still stands, that when we first organized, it was to make the Guggenheim a sustainable (place) to stay and work at,” said Liz Jaff, a Lead Paper Specialist and Bargaining Committee Member. “We are very committed to the specific history of the Guggenheim Museum and to find that it wasn’t sustainable to continue working here - to find that the institution didn’t listen to us then - a Union was what we needed, so we brought it.”

For More On This Labor News Story, Go To: Guggenheim Museum Workers Rally for Fair Contract in Lunch Break Action (hyperallergic.com)