Workers at the Noguchi Museum in New York City are unionizing. Staff across administrative, curatorial, education, and visitor services departments, among others, have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to form a union with Local 2110 United Auto Workers (UAW), according to a press release shared with Hyperallergic.
The union includes both full and part-time workers and will be “wall-to-wall,” which means all staff members can join regardless of their job title or department.
In a statement, Noguchi Museum workers cited “a need for greater transparency” and “better conditions” within the Queen’s institution.
“We all care about the Noguchi Museum, and I want the working conditions to be sustainable so that staff can continue doing the jobs that we love,” said Austin Kim, an archives associate at the museum.
On Instagram, unionizing staff said they wanted to form a “more equitable, inclusive, and transparent” workplace. Elections will be held on January 9 and 11.
“The staff are an integral part of the Museum, and our contribution and viewpoint should be recognized by the Museum,” Mariko Aoyagi, a part-time educator at the institution, noted in the press statement.
The announcement comes just months after three employees were terminated for wearing keffiyehs, sparking widespread condemnation and protests. The Noguchi employs 72 workers, more than 50 of whom signed an August petition voicing their disapproval of the new staff dress code policy banning the Arab headscarves that symbolize Palestinian solidarity.
Following the termination of gallery attendants Trasonia Abbott, Natalie Cappellini, and Q. Chen for refusing to comply with the museum’s keffiyeh ban in early September, around 60 protesters gathered at the museum in opposition to decry the institution’s policy. As a gesture of solidarity with the terminated workers later that month, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri declined the museum’s 2024 Isamu Noguchi Award.
The Noguchi Museum has not yet responded to Hyperallergic’s request for comment on the union.
