New Children's Museum Becomes First In San Diego To Organize, Joining National Trend

San Diego CA

04 April, 2021

6:32 PM

Description

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego April 3, 2021 Workers and management and at the New Children's Museum signed a collective bargaining agreement this week, becoming the first of San Diego's 45 museums to organize. The agreement covers wages, benefits and worker protections, and comes after more than a year of negotiations amid the pandemic. "This contract demonstrates the power of union workers at the bargaining table. Our members were able to negotiate immediate increases in pay, along with annual pay raises, sustained health care, and opportunities for more input on the job," said Nate Fairman, business manager for IBEW Local 465. The local also represents workers at San Diego Gas & Electric and the Metropolitan Transit system. The agreement comes as the museum in downtown San Diego prepares to reopen in May with outside activities in the adjacent Museum Park. Reed Vickerman, the museum's interim executive director, praised the agreement and said the institution is "proud to invest in our employees and acknowledge their contributions to the museum and San Diego's children." The contract puts the workers of the arts-based children's museum among the ranks of a growing number of museum workers nationwide who are unionizing, including at the SFMOMA in San Francisco, the Solomon R. Guggenheim and the Children's Museum of the Arts in New York, the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. "We love our work, and we are proud to serve the museum's mission with passion and dedication. Our goal throughout this process has been to create a sustainable future," said Jill Grant, the lead worker representative in bargaining. "This contract makes significant progress toward that goal — and we hope our successful negotiation inspires other museum workers to unionize." Times of San Diego is an independent online news site covering the San Diego metropolitan area. Our journalists report on politics, crime, business, sports, education, arts, the military and everyday life in San Diego. No subscription is required, and you can sign up for a free daily newsletter with a summary of the latest news.