The Denver Art Museum has rejected a request to voluntarily recognize a workers union that would include most of the nonprofit institution’s 250 employees.
“We declined that request in order to allow each eligible employee to have the opportunity to express their voice and decide on the best path forward through a secret ballot voting process,” wrote museum director Christoph Heinrich in an email sent to employees late Thursday.
The next step, Heinrich wrote, will be to petition the National Labor Board to schedule an election and vote, which would decide future steps for eligible members of the bargaining unit, according to the all-staff email shared with The Denver Post.
A majority of art museum employees on Thursday said they plan to form a union under the banner of Denver Art Museum Workers United, itself covered by the Denver-based American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 18.
“The workers of the Denver Art Museum are disappointed to hear that so far, upper-level management has refused to voluntarily recognize the overwhelming majority of eligible staff who have already signed cards and want to form our union,” union organizer Tei Iuga, a creative and public engagement associate, wrote in a Friday email to The Denver Post. “We feel confident in our ability to win our union, whether through voluntary recognition or election.”
Workers are unionizing in order to ensure that they can earn a living wage while also improving safety and transparency from management, they said Thursday. Training around safety issues has also been “unclear and sometimes does not even happen at all,” according to workers.
“Therefore, we want to remind management that they still have the ability to do what is right for the workers, the museum, and the public: voluntarily recognize our union,” Iuga wrote. “The Denver Art Museum is funded in no small part by taxpayers through the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) tax for cultural institutions like DAM. We don’t want to see those funds wasted on delaying the inevitable.”
Iuga and co-organizer Trudy Lovato on Thursday had said that forcing an election would draw out the process and waste taxpayer money.
“We feel that these resources would be much better spent on continuing the wonderful work that we at the Denver Art Museum do for our community. We invite management to stop wasting workers’ time and taxpayers’ money and recognize our union. We can’t wait to work with you!”
Heinrich said that he’s committed to working with members if the union path is officially chosen.
“The follow up email to staff also included an open-door invitation with leadership for dialogue about this process,” wrote communications manager Andy Sinclair. “The Denver Art Museum prioritizes its employees and their needs and is eager to learn more about the specific goals of the proposed unionization.”
