In this spotlight, we dig into strike actions by private nonprofit art museum unions.
We defined “strike actions” as either a “strike,” where a temporary work stoppage is
held by workers to support their demands on an employer, or a “threatened strike,” where
membership votes to strike or publicly announces plans for a strike. Strikes, while not
limited to the realm of organized labor, are often associated with unionized workplaces
and constitute a powerful tool available to workers: withholding their labor often builds
considerable leverage during contract negotiations. Strikes are a last resort and are only
voted for by union membership after all other avenues for advancing contract negotiations
have been exhausted.
Of the campaigns we’ve followed, most (X%) have been able to ratify a
first contract without a strike action. As of March 2024, the vast majority of strike actions
have taken place during a first contract campaign and resulted in a tentative agreement
on contract terms from management. Of actions that have resulted in a temporary work stoppage, the
strikes range from one day to eight weeks29
in length, mirroring national trends.30
We began this research in 2023, a year of many high-profile strikes with broad public approval:31
50,000+ UAW members at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis (notably, President Biden became the
first sitting president to walk a picket line when he joined these auto workers in September 2023);
170,000+ SAG-AFTRA and Writer’s Guild actors and screenwriters; and thousands of other major labor
actions by UPS drivers to nurses to Starbucks workers. A recent report from the Labor Action Tracker
out of Cornell University and the University of Illinois documented a 9% increase in work stoppages
from 2022 to 2023, also noting that the number of workers involved in these stoppages grew by 141%
over the same year.32
Timeline of Strike Activity
Total Strikes or Threatened Strikes at Private Nonprofit Art Museums
How Strikes Have Played a Role in Contract Ratification
Percentage of private nonprofit art museum unions
that have won contracts after striking or threatening to strike.
