Toledo Art Museum Workers Move to Unionize

Staff members at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) in Ohio are unionizing after 86% of workers voted in favor on Wednesday, April 9. The effort comes amid the museum’s ongoing, multi-year collection reinstallation effort and in light of the challenging political climate and its consequences for the arts and culture sector.

Organizing under the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), some 100 workers will form the new union, which emerged after TMA’s glass technicians came together under Teamsters in 2007. The new unit will include staff from the visitor services, glass studio, research, education, curatorial, and library departments, among other eligible sectors, and is expected to grow upon selecting a representative.

In an interview with Hyperallergic, union organizers Skye Sloane, a team leader for visitor services, and Chuchen Song, a specialist at the museum’s glass studio, underscored that they began mobilizing during the reinstallation project, which is set to impact every part of the museum.

“ It’s a significant change to the institution that we all love, and we wanted to band together and feel sure and secure in our jobs, benefits, and wages, before the project is completed,” Sloane said.

“ Some specific concerns are in enshrining benefits into a contract that can be edited over time,” he continued. “We’re grateful to have a director who’s really willing to work with us and has made a lot of positive changes since he’s been at the museum, but in order to keep those changes for a long time, we need to put them in a contract.”

Sloane also added that he’s hopeful about the possibility of an increased minimum wage, noting that he works with 15 part-time visitor service employees who make $15 an hour with no health insurance.

“ I personally am very proud that our professional sector voted unanimously to be included with the non-professional sector, which really shows to me that our colleagues with advanced degrees can see the common, shared struggle of part-time, front-facing employees and be willing to help them,” Sloane said.

Song, who has worked at the museum since 2021 and became a full-time staff member in 2023, said that she loves her job and the community within the museum, but she also believes that her coworkers “need to unite together and look after each other,” especially in tumultuous times.

In a statement to Hyperallergic, Jennifer McCary, the museum’s chief culture and brand experience officer, said that TMA “respect[s] the democratic process and remain committed to fostering a supportive and collaborative work environment for all employees.”

The news comes as organizations around the country face the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH), two federal agencies that abruptly terminated grants in the wake of Trump and DOGE’s takeover. A TMA spokesperson told Hyperallergic that the museum has not been “majorly impacted” by the IMLS and NEH dismantlement.

“We can’t control what comes down [from the Trump administration], but we can control what we can do together as a union,” said Namita Waghray, the spokesperson for AFSCME Ohio Council 8, under which TMA is organizing.