American Museum Of Natural History Workers Decide To Unionize

Upper West Side NY

28 January, 2022

1:24 PM

Description

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Nearly 200 workers at the American Museum of Natural History took steps this week to form a union, according to paperwork filed Thursday. The 184 workers at the world-famous Upper West Side museum are unionizing with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) District Council 37, which is New York City's largest public employee union. It represents 150,000 members and 50,000 retirees. The American Museum of Natural History did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment. In terms of why the museum workers chose to unionize, one employee told Patch that COVID safety and full pay were among their top concerns. "I think for all of us, top concerns were COVID safety, especially for visitor-facing staff, and issues of compensation and benefits," American Museum of Natural History employee and union member Alexandra Walling told Patch. "Many staff were on the extended furloughs at 80 percent of 60 percent pay for many months since the start of COVID." The list of included American Museum of Natural History employees is a long one, but there is a subsect of museum workers who will not be part of the new union. Excluded are managerial employees, supervisors, security guards, and confidential employees. Multiple people on Twitter mentioned that they'd love to see the new union banner get dropped from the massive blue whale within the museum. Here are all the regular full-time and part-time museum employees that will be part of the union: Associate DirectorsEducatorsStaff WritersGraphic DesignersContent ProducersProgram CoordinatorsAdministrative AssistantsConservation and Biology CoordinatorsCoordinatorsManagers Museum EducatorsEarly Childhood EducatorsTeaching AssistantsEarth and Planetary EducatorsPhysical Science EducatorsResearchersOutreachAssistants to the DirectorFinancial AdministratorsSenior Software DevelopersBiodiversity Informatics ResearchersBiodiversity ScientistsCapacity Development SpecialistsBiodiversity Scientists and ManagersMentors, Biodiversity Specialists and Programs' CoordinatorsCBC Production and Outreach Coordinators Visual Creative and Research AssistantsNCEP & CBCBiodiversity Informatics ScientistsPost-Doctoral FellowsGraduate AssistantsDoctoral AssistantsBusiness ManagersLibrariansCataloging and Data LibrariansCollections Librarians Sr. Research Services LibrariansCuratorial AssistantsSr. Exhibition Researchers and CoordinatorsExhibition AssistantsExhibition ExplainersLive Exhibits CoordinatorsGuest Services RepresentativesGuest Services SupervisorSales AssociatesLead/RetailSalesRetail Sales AssociatesLead Cashiers Sales SupportGift Shop Employees CRS Representatives