All of Canada's national museums and provincial (at least I think all
provincially-run) museums and galleries are unionized with various public
service unions (federally there are two - the Public Service Alliance of
Canada - 145 000  members strong + or -, and the Professional Institute of
the Public Service of Canada). While I would not presume to speak for
members and institutions other than my own (the Canadian  Museum of
Civilization Corporation which includes the Canadian War Museum), within my
institution the union has proven to be an invaluable tool in having the
'museological' functions of the museums recognized equally with the
administrative and financial functions.

As with the rest of Canada's public service, the CMCC laboured under a
seven year wage freeze from 1990 - 1997. We negotiated our first contract
as separate employer within the federal civil service and, as part of that
contract, negotiated a total of 3.5% wage increase for all employees for
each of the 2 years of the contract. When the contract was negotiated,  a
job classification which does not recognize the diversity of occupations in
a museum (from trades-people to educators to researchers to collections
managers to artisits, in addition tothe traditiaonsl 'business-type' jobs)
was imposed on us. The system more accurately reflects work done in an
assembly line environment rather than a cultural institution. No value was
assigned to as task involving cultural assets (handling, mounting,
displaying, researching, etc.) although lots of value was given to
tasks/roles with financial accountability and HR responsibilities. We
successfully negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding in the contract which
stipulates that union and management representatives must sit together to
both review and revise this system, coming to a consensus on all factors.

All of this to say that our museum needs a union - while we may not be, at
times, the most super -effective  group, we successfully organized our
members to strike (and fortunately averted it within  12 hours last summer)
and, hopefully, made our managers realize that, as a group of individuals,
with individual interests and concerns,  when we act collectively, we can
be force to be reckoned with. In this day and age of cutbacks and layoffs,
especially within Canada's civil service, which has been decimated by cuts
over the past 3 years, a union in the work place can, and as we proved to
ourselves, is, an effective way to protect employees and ensure that that
they are being valued and rewarded appropriately. Most importantly
employees have an outlet if they feel taken advantage of. Our union offers
a measure of - not necessarily security - but accountability; we (the
union) are here to make sure that all employees are treated fairly,
equally, and honestly - and that the work we do is recognized, valued, and
rewarded appropriately. To try and cast aspersions on unionization
andorganizing is by using other occupations (dock wrokers or  or coal
miners pejoratively) is not only elitists, it is alos unfair and serves
only to undervalue the work done by unon members psat and present to
achieve standar woek week,s pay, and vacation. While uinions have
traditionally been a stronghold in occupational trades, perhaps for those
who are questionsing the value of their education relative to a job in a
musuem, the answer could be to organize. Afterall, that plumber someone
mentioned who receives such a healthy salary didn't get it by asking -
someone fought for it. At any rate - the union works for us - not perfectly
- but it works.

(And yes, I am an active member of my union...  :)

Herendeth the lesson...

Denise Corbett
Interpretive Planner
Canadian Postal Museum
100 Laurier St.
Hull, Quebec
J8X 4H2

Phone: (819) 776-8492
Fax:      (819) 776-7062
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

The views expressed here are not necessarily the views of my employer


Rebecca Conner <[log in to unmask]> wrote in article
<[log in to unmask]>...
> I believe the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is
> also unionized -- I heard this mentioned on their job line, but
> cannot speak to the adequacy of their pay for M.A.s  :)
>
>
> ---"Olivia S. Anastasiadis"  wrote:
> >
> > I think the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have unionized
> > representation, but I do not recall to what extent
> (registrarial
> > definitely); some archivists at the National Archives are also
> > represented by a union.  You may want to call Ted Greenberg,
> registrar at
> > the San Francisco museum I mentioned and ask about how they
> dealt with
> > unionizing, (415) 750-3601.
> >
> > O
> > Olivia S. Anastasiadis, Curator
> > Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace
> > 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard
> > Yorba Linda, CA  92886
> > (714) 993-5075 ext. 224; fax (714) 528-0544; e-mail:
> [log in to unmask]
> >
> > On Tue, 28 Jul 1998 16:43:19 -0500 DeAnn Gould
> > <[log in to unmask]> writes:
> > >This last comment sparked a question that I have been
> meaning to ask
> > >--
> > >how many of you are employed by or know of a non-profit or
> museum that
> > >has a union for its employees?
> > >
> > >The institution I work for has been presented with a
> petition from
> > >employees to unionize -- an official vote is just weeks
> away.  Based
> > >on
> > >the research I have done (unions, National Labor Relations
> Act, SEIU
> > >local 46, etc.) -- a union would not be in the best interest
> of a
> > >non-profit arts organization nor its employees.
> > >
> > >What are some of your thoughts?
> > >
> > >DeAnn Gould
> > >
> > >        -----Original Message-----
> > >        From:   Ross Weeks [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > >        Sent:   Tuesday, July 28, 1998 4:06 PM
> > >        To:     [log in to unmask]
> > >        Subject:        Re: The Value of an M.A. - $7.25/hr?
> > >
> > > ....     To encourage museum people to organize, in the
> fashion of
> > >dockworkers and
> > >        coalminers,  as one writer suggested,  will simply
> shut many
> > >of
> > >our
> > >        institutions down. .......
> > >