Greater than 400 staff on the Artwork Gallery of Ontario (AGO), members of Ontario Public Service Workers Union (OPSEU/SEFPO) Native 535, went on strike Tuesday (26 March) over low wages amid the rising price of residing. In consequence, the museum has been closed to the general public since Tuesday.
In keeping with a union assertion, negotiations with museum directors broke down after ten months of conferences. The union says that the AGO’s newest provide fails to make significant enhancements on key points, together with wage will increase and protections in opposition to contracting out for precarious part-time staff.
“As public service staff, we have been hit proper within the paycheck through the pandemic,” Paul Ayers, president of OPSEU/SEFPO Native 535, stated in an announcement. “Whereas we struggled by a public well being disaster and three years of unconstitutional wage freezes, elite executives made a whole lot of 1000’s. We want a deal that helps us keep afloat in a cost-of-living disaster in the costliest metropolis in Canada—and the AGO’s newest provide falls in need of that.”
Placing Members of the union embody assistant curators, archivists, meals and hospitality employees, researchers, technicians, carpenters, electricians, instructors, designers and customer providers employees. Rallying outdoors the museum on Tuesday, they held indicators with messages together with “Present Me the Monet”, “Fashionable Artwork, Medieval Wages” and “The Arts matter, so can we!”
“Many of those staff are artists in their very own proper that contribute to the cultural material of town. Devaluing artists just isn’t how we present the general public that the humanities matter,” the president of OPSEU/SEFPO, JP Hornick, stated in an announcement. “The AGO is sending the message that as a outstanding cultural establishment, it prioritizes the underside line over peoples’ livelihood.”
At play within the strike should not solely the price of residing disaster and low wages throughout the Canadian artwork world, but in addition a provincial battle between labour and union-busting Ontario premiere Doug Ford. The cultural sector just isn’t immune from this ongoing battle, as evidenced by the11-week strike by staff at TVO (TV Ontario) that ended final November over comparable problems with low wages and momentary contract work.
The deadlock with staff over pay and advantages additionally comes because the AGO prepares to spend handsomely on a significant constructing undertaking. The museum will increase by 3,700 sq. m with the development of a brand new, C$100m ($73.6m) modern artwork gallery; C$35m ($25.8m) of the finances for that undertaking was donated by Canada Goose founder Dani Reiss.
Whereas 2019 was a really totally different time, it’s price noting that that yr’s strike on the Vancouver Artwork Gallery (VAG) got here on the heels of an announcement of a C$40m reward for the brand new constructing from the Chan household. Based mostly on a 2017 tax return reported by the Pacific Affiliation of Artist-run Centres, which publicly supported the putting staff, 202 of 212 of VAG employees earned lower than C$80,000 per yr, whereas the director’s wage was C$350,000.
“The AGO Basis paid out its chief government officer, Stephan Jost, over C$390,000 ($287,000) in ‘consulting’ charges between 2020 and 2021 alone—on high of his C$406,000 ($299,000) wage,” Ayers says. “But there’s no cash for wages? The gallery can completely afford to convey ahead a greater provide.”
In a remark emailed to The Artwork Newspaper, an AGO spokesperson stated: “The AGO is hopeful that we are going to attain a negotiated settlement with OPSEU quickly, remaining prepared to barter and totally obtainable to work constructively with worker representatives to succeed in an affordable and honest settlement.”
The strike follows on the heels of a scandal and calls for for accountability across the departure of First Nations curator Wanda Nanibush final November, allegedly for her outspoken help of Palestine.