(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has determined the Buffalo AKG Art Museum violated Federal Labor Law and retaliated against the Workers’ Union - AKG Workers United, by laying off 13 Union-represented Workers employed in the Visitor Experience Department in the Spring 2025.

The Museum has been ordered to reinstate all of the Visitor Experience Workers and provide them full back pay.

This decision comes after over a year of providing hundreds of documents of evidence and dozens of hours of testimony from the negatively-impacted Workers, Representatives of AKG Workers United said.

Museum leadership had an opportunity to settle these charges weeks before - but refused, Union Officials added. 

Melinda Wright, a Visitor Experience Associate and President of AKG Workers United, said: “This is a major win for Workers and our community! We - AKG workers - work so hard to support Buffalo and our Museum. We are so glad that the (NLRB) found merit and hope that with the return of our Visitor Experience Staff, we can turn a new leaf and have a truly collaborative relationship with the Museum. (And) We are so appreciative of the solidarity and support our community has shown us through this fight.” 

AKG Workers United also said it is hopeful the AKG Board and its Leadership Team will end the years long crusade against the Union, stop spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees to fight their own Workers, and finally respect the Workers’ right to organize a Union.