“By recognizing our union, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is setting the standard of respecting the rights of workers who choose to form a union,” said Claudia Gonzalez, a visitor experience associate at the museum. “We know that magic happens when workers have a union, or else we wouldn’t have a museum celebrating the magic of film.”
Unions have been at the heart of the film industry for nearly a century, and museum workers look forward to joining this proud tradition by organizing with AFSCME District Council 36. Since announcing plans to form a union in May, museum workers has gathered support from other Hollywood unions, as well as elected officials and community members.
“I join the many community members who have signed a community letter calling on the Academy Museum’s administration to recognize the workers’ union upon their demonstration of majority support,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz.
Members of AMWU are joining tens of thousands of workers at cultural institutions such as museums and libraries who are forming unions through AFSCME’s Cultural Workers United program to address substandard working conditions worsened by the pandemic. Most recently, workers at Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) ratified their first contract, raising standards for working conditions in the cultural and creative industries.
Hunter Logan, who’s part of the Academy Museum’s theater staff, pointed out that MOCA’s managers voluntarily recognized their workers’ union.
“As Academy Museum Workers United, we ask our management to come to the same conclusion: unions make workplaces stronger for everyone, and the quickest, cheapest, fairest way to form one is to officially recognize when that union has achieved a majority support like we have,” Logan said.
