By JUSTINA RAMLAKHAN

In a testament to the strength of collective bargaining, Local 1503 and District Council 37 successfully pursued four grievances under the bargaining agreement between The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Union.

The grievances were filed on behalf of Departmental Technicians who were not appropriately granted time off upon completion of extended shifts. The museum violated a long-standing practice of including a one-hour, unpaid lunch toward the required hourly threshold to be granted paid time off for working long shifts.

This victory highlights the importance of the grievance process and the material wins that result from members exercising their voice on the job by working with their Union representatives. A total of four members whose primary responsibility is to preserve the museum’s artwork are due to have any previously deducted paid time off restored as listed in the grievances.

The Met denied the grievance at the first two steps but granted the grievance at Step 3. In support of the technicians, the Union produced more than 30 years of precedent that proved to the General Counsel that the practice had been honored by both museum staff and management. When asked, the management team was unable to justify the recent and sudden change in the process. It was ultimately ruled that there was no discrepancy in how payroll logged the time, whether the technician’s lunch hour was counted toward their paid time off or not, resulting in the restoration of their paid-time-off hours that were previously denied.

“We were fortunate in this case that we could point to years of documentation and evidence to support the technicians’ claims, contradicting the management team’s unprecedented reasoning for denying our members their earned paid time off,” said Rawle Campbell, president of Local 1503.

Moving forward, the victory also formalizes the process of how time is counted for technicians across the department so the practice is institutionalized by outlining the process in the contract.

The addition of new language to the contract protects technicians against a similar situation arising in the future. Approximately 35 techs will now be assured how the provision applies to them.

Chapter Chair Brooks Shaver and Shop Steward Manus Gallagher were critical to compiling the appropriate data and documenting the practice, working in collaboration with Campbell and Representative Dan McCabe to find a resolution to the grievance. The successful outcome highlights the efficacy of the grievance process in improving the experience of DC 37 members at work.