Seattle Art Museum Workers Move to Unionize
More than 100 employees at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) announced plans to unionize under the name Seattle Art Museum Workers United (SAMWU), affiliating with the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28. In a letter dated May 13 to director and CEO Scott Stulen and the museum board, workers urged SAM to voluntarily recognize the union by Wednesday, May 27, which would allow them to bypass a National Labor Relations Board election. The letter, signed by 59 current employees across departments, cited “unsustainable wages,” “subpar health benefits,” and “siloed, top-down decision-making,” and called for “just-cause” protections instead of at-will employment. Stulen told Hyperallergic that leadership had received the letter and was reviewing it, adding that the museum supports employees’ rights to advocate collectively; the letter also referenced SAM’s unionized security guards, who held a 12-day strike in 2024 before ratifying a contract after more than two years of negotiations.
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This story was covered in Billion-Dollar Museums, Billion-Dollar Bids