Local unionization efforts, taking place at restaurants, bookstores, and health centers, have officially spread to D.C.-area museums. On Wednesday, May 8, hourly staff at the Glenstone museum in Potomac announced their intent to unionize. As of last week, a supermajority of the bargaining unit had signed union authorization cards to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Staff operating under the name Glenstone Museum Workers United asked the museum’s leadership for a response within 24 hours. Elizabeth Shaw, Glenstone’s grounds and visitor experience liaison, tells City Paper that the museum’s director, Emily Rales, sent an all-staff email on Friday acknowledging the unionization efforts, but “did not acknowledge our invitation to voluntarily recognize the union.”
Rales and her husband, billionaire Mitchell Rales, founded the sprawling 300-acre contemporary art museum in 2006. The museum is known for the work it showcases inside its several buildings, and for its beautifully landscaped grounds and stunning architecture. The campus is dotted with pieces by renowned artists including Richard Serra and Felix Gonzalez–Torres. Inside, the collection largely houses post–World War II art.
Acknowledgment of the union by the museum’s leadership—which includes the cofounders as well as the chief operating officer, director of finance, senior director of public engagement, senior director of collections—would allow the labor organizing process to move more quickly; without that recognition, staff members must file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board.
“Although we asked for a response within 24 hours, and did not receive one, Glenstone can choose to voluntarily recognize the union at any point before election day and we will drop our petition,” Shaw says, adding that the museum’s “statement of position is due by noon on Thursday 5/16.”
Maureen Mahon, a guide at the museum, says via email that the staff has submitted a petition for election to the NLRB; the election is currently scheduled for Friday, May 24.
Glenstone Museum Workers United are asking for a living wage, as well as “a workplace where all employees are provided with health insurance and safe working conditions. A workplace where communication and transparency are meaningful and effective. A workplace where our institutional knowledge – and our voices – matter,” according to the letter shared with leadership last week and reviewed by City Paper. Art outlet Hyperallergic first reported on the staff’s unionization efforts, noting that lowest-paid members of the bargaining unit make just over $20 an hour. In Montgomery County, minimum wage is $15 per hour, but according to calculations from Massachusetts Institute of Technology the living wage in the county is, unsurprisingly, higher at $27.12 an hour.
In her email, which was shared with City Paper, Rales writes: “I want to reaffirm how much we value the hard work and commitment to all associates at Glenstone. We are grateful for your dedication to our mission and appreciate the pride you express in your jobs. Now that we have received the union’s petition, a formal process has begun. We respect our staff’s right to decide whether to be represented by a union. As we go through this process together, we are committed to maintaining the strength of our community and our support for one another.”
Glenstone did not immediately responded to City Paper’s request for comment.