Page 22 - Studio International - December 1973

PASTA/MOMA has asked for a minimum
Strike! MOMA Jeannie Weiffenbach's article in the salary of $7200. By comparison,the the current
November 1971 issue of this journal. Although
under pressure the first contract between the Museum and minimum starting salary for elementary and
secondary school teachers in New York City is
PASTA/MOMA did not expire until 3o June,
Mark Segal 1973, salary negotiations were re-opened in $9600 (for a ten-month school year) and the
July 1972, in accordance with a provision of present minimum salary for New York City
that contract. The direct results of the 1972 sanitation workers is $9690. At the time of the
On 9 October 1973 The Professional and re-opener agreement were an across-the-board strike the Museum's best offer was $6400.
Administrative Staff Association of The raise and a more sensible job title and salary The Museum has offered an across-the-
Museum of Modern Art (PASTA/MOMA), structure. Perhaps more important than these board raise of 5.5% per year. The rise in the
the first union of museum professionals in the specific gains was the active and constructive cost of living in New York City between
United States, struck The Museum of Modern participation in negotiations of the Museum's August 1972 and August 1973 was 7.2%,
Art after 14 weeks of unsuccessful negotiations new director Richard Oldenburg. Oldenburg's according to the Bureau of Labour Statisti
for a new contract. On 26 November, the day involvement was interpreted as a sign that Food prices alone rose 17.6% during the
this article went to press, the strike was still in the Museum's management recognized its same period. It is clear that even if the annual
progress. What began as a strike for higher moral and legal obligation to bargain in good rise in the cost of living in New York levels off
salaries, increased staff participation in policy- faith with PASTA/MOMA Staff morale was at around 7%, a 5.5% raise would result in a
making, and the inclusion of certain senior high as the days of administrative arrogance loss of actual purchasing power, a loss
professionals in the union, had become, after had apparently been replaced by a new era of particularly severe for workers already earning
five long and difficult weeks, a serious struggle cooperation and mutual respect. substandard salaries. The Museum argues that
in which nothing less than the character of the Staff optimism was not blind, however. it has settled with other in-house unions
institution was at stake. How much longer could Even before the 1973 negotiations for a new (guards, custodians, etc.) for 5.5%. However
the Museum maintain its pretence to a contract began, it was apparent that there those unions have been organized longer than
progressivism based on the collection and had been serious violations of the first PASTA/MOMA and many, therefore, are
exhibition of modern and contemporary art agreement, perhaps the most critical of which negotiating from higher pay bases. In addition,
while the great majority of its professional staff, was the repeated failure of the administration to workers in those other unions may supplement
supported by artists, critics, film-makers and consult with the staff before major policy their base pay with overtime pay, while the
workers from other museums, drew increasing decisions were made. In spite of these breaches Museum denies overtime pay to PASTA/
attention to the Museum's reactionary and of contract, however, there was little to prepare MOMA on the grounds that its members are
paternalistic treatment of the very people who the staff for the blatant attempts to divide and professionals.
make the continued existence of museums crush the union which would materialize The management payroll of the Museum
possible ? For how long could the Museum during the summer and fall of 1973. totals almost i million, an average of between
continue to justify paying sub-standard Negotiations between the Museum $20,000 and $25,000 per person per year. The
salaries to its own staff on the grounds that such management and PASTA/MOMA began in payroll for the professional and office staff
economies were necessary to keep the poverty- July 1973. In mid-September, after ten weeks totals $1.2 million, an average of $7000 per
stricken institution open (a rationale which, of talks had failed to produce a settlement, a person per year. Fully one-third of the
considering the destructive polarization State Labour Mediator entered the discussions professional staff earns less than $7000 per
following the strike's inception, was sadly in order to effect a compromise. On 1 October, annum; 54% earn less than $8500 : it should
reminiscent of the United States' policy of PASTA/MOMA's membership voted be noted that these figures represent salaries
bombing South-East Asia in order to save it) ? overwhelmingly to authorize its leadership to prior to taxes and that New Yorkers are subject
Are financial solvency and the retention of call a strike if management persisted in its to city, state and federal income taxes.
managerial prerogative to be won at the cost of unwillingness to negotiate. On 4 October one These figures dramatize what most people
the basic rights of museum workers ? Can the hundred members of the union conducted a familiar with conditions in the carts' professions
Museum ultimately survive policies and one-hour lunch-time solidarity demonstration already know: museum workers are severely
practices which are alienating important in front of the Museum to publicly dramatize underpaid. PASTA/MOMA does not seek
segments of the art community ? Will the the imminence of a strike. A marathon parity with workers in profit-making
genteel museum-goers who blithely cross a mediation held on 8 October failed to produce corporations. Instead, members ask to be, and
picket line of artists and museum workers any significant results arid PASTA/MOMA should be, compared with their counterparts
provide a sufficient constituency for the went on strike Tuesday, 9 October. in colleges and universities. On 28 October
maintenance of a vital institution ? This report John Rewald, a professor of art at the City
does not attempt to answer such questions. The issues: salaries University of New York and author of the
Rather, it hopes to show how they have come to The two basic principles at stake in the area of classic The History of Impressionism, addressed
be asked. salaries were firstly the right of any Museum to Richard Oldenburg a letter which stated, in
professional to an adequate minimum salary
Background and secondly the necessity of an across-the- part interest
my .. For years I have been trying to interest
The first union of museum professionals to be board raise which would at least keep pace with my students in museum work and have been
legally certified by the US National Labour the rise in the cost of living in an inflationary distressed to see how few intelligent young
Relations Board, PASTA/MOMA bargains for economy. people were attracted by a career as curator or
approximately 17o workers not already The current minimum annual salary at the similar positions. Almost all my students want
represented by other unions. Its membership Museum is $6100. While this figure is an to go into teaching where the salaries are better
includes curatorial personnel from all improvement over the disgraceful $4770 per , vacations longer, independence greater,
departments, librarians, waitresses, secretaries, year minimum in effect before the first contract, possibilities to do scholarly work more
editors, conservators, bookstore sales people, it is simply not an adequate wage for anyone numerous and where tenure is more easily
receptionists, book-keepers, etc. living in New York City in 1973. The US attainable.
For a thorough account of the formation of Bureau of Labour Statistics sets $7200 as the `What is now happening at MOMA and what
PASTA/MOMA, including details of its minimum amount required to maintain an the public — and art history students — are now
historic first contract, I refer readers to adequate standard of living in New York City. learning about conditions, pension funds, etc.,
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