Story & Photo by ACACIA RODRIGUEZ
Local 215 members at the Museum of Jewish Heritage are celebrating the ratification of a hard-won contract. The private sector members worked under an extended contract for six months while they faced off at the bargaining table with museum management.
The museum workers’ crash course in contract negotiations and labor history began when they joined the Bargaining Committee just three months after becoming shop stewards.
Negotiator Amena Black of DC 37’s Research & Negotiations Department channeled the team’s curiosity and eagerness into generative strategy sessions.
“It was a tedious process, but the committee was excited to learn about bargaining and fight for a better contract,” Black said. “It was refreshing to work with such passionate workers.”
The new committee met with previous members to learn about management’s past resistance. Black prepared them to meet with the museum’s lawyer by interviewing the entire unit.
“The membership was quick to point out what they wanted and what they could compromise on so that their feedback informed our strategy,” Black said.
Late in negotiations, the committee faced a setback when mediation was canceled by a March 14 executive action that reduced staffing at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an independent agency that assists employers and unions in the collective bargaining process. Without a mediator, talks resumed with management without the assistance of an impartial third party.
The union also faced multiple rebuffs from management instead of counteroffers. Without knowledge of the museum’s baseline expectations, the committee had to pitch exact numbers for ratification bonuses and wage increases based on their own survey of similar wages and positions.
The workers used several tactics to reach a tentative agreement, including amending their email signatures to include that they were fighting for a fair contract and passing out fliers in front of the museum during a T-shirt action day that guided patrons to communicate their support of the workers directly to the museum’s president.
“The members noted any perceived backlash from management due to their participation in the bargaining process,” Black said. “We sent a strong message to management that fear tactics and disparate treatment were unacceptable.”
Despite management’s pushback, the Bargaining Committee held firm and centered discussions on the value of their labor. This resulted in a pay raise, increased bereavement leave from three to five days to accomodate Shiva, the Jewish mourning practice, tech devices for remote work, increased sick time, and a more reasonable market value for their labor.