Editing Museum (section)

===Labor issues and unionization===
[[File:Philadelphia Art Museum workers rally - April 1, 2022-001.jpg|thumb|Workers rallying at the Philadelphia Museum of Art]]
;Background
The past few years has seen a unionizing movement. US museums workers have initiated dialogs about labor and collective organizing in the cultural sector. In 2019 the workers in multiple museums voted to form unions with more protesting to press for a fair contract and against unfair labor practices.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wagley |first=Catherine |date=2019-11-25 |title=Museum Workers Across the Country Are Unionizing. Here's What's Driving a Movement That's Been Years in the Making |url=https://news.artnet.com/market/union-museum-analysis-1714716 |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US |archive-date=26 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526052819/https://news.artnet.com/market/union-museum-analysis-1714716 |url-status=live }}</ref> During that year over 3,000 cultural workers anonymously started to share their salaries online through a pay transparency spreadsheet.<ref name="Small">{{Cite news |last=Small |first=Zachary |date=2022-02-21 |title=U.S. Museums See Rise in Unions Even as Labor Movement Slumps |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/arts/design/museums-unions-labor.html |access-date=2022-05-26 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601043816/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/arts/design/museums-unions-labor.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Marciano Art Foundation, a museum established by co-founders of [[Guess (clothing)|Guess clothing]], Maurice Marciano and [[Paul Marciano]] closed indefinitely in November 2019 after workers attempted to [[unionize]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-11-06/marciano-art-foundation-announces-that-it-will-not-reopen-in-the-wake-of-layoffs|title=Marciano Art Foundation announces it won't reopen in wake of layoffs following union drive|last=Miranda|first=Carolina A.|date=2019-11-06|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|access-date=2019-11-07|archive-date=26 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526052820/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-11-06/marciano-art-foundation-announces-that-it-will-not-reopen-in-the-wake-of-layoffs}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-11-08/marciano-art-foundation-closing-fallout-museum-union-drive|title=What's next for nonprofit museums after the closing of the Marciano Art Foundation?|last=Miranda |first=Carolina A.|date=2019-11-08|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526052821/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-11-08/marciano-art-foundation-closing-fallout-museum-union-drive|archive-date=26 May 2022|access-date=2019-11-08}}</ref> The Marciano Foundation released a statement a month later that the closure was permanent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-12-06/moca-recognizes-employee-union-afscme-marciano-closure-permanent |last=Miranda |first=Carolina A. |title=MOCA will voluntarily recognize new employee union; Marciano closure is permanent|date=2019-12-07|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-09|archive-date=26 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526052820/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-12-06/moca-recognizes-employee-union-afscme-marciano-closure-permanent|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the country of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] 40 employees were fired May 2022 as part of a restructuring. The newly formed union, the Georgian Trade Union of Science, Education, and Culture Workers said in a statement they said the employees were fired illegally and the reorganization was "carried out by the employer in an untransparent and maladministered manner" and that the organization will "definitely fight to the end to protect the rights of employees." Fired senior curator Maia Pataridze said the new management mentioned her social media posts criticizing the government.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dafoe |first=Taylor |date=2022-06-02 |title=State-Run Museums in Georgia Abruptly Fired 40 Employees, Allegedly in Retribution for Forming a Union |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/employees-fired-from-state-run-museums-in-georgia-2124928 |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US |archive-date=15 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615013552/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/employees-fired-from-state-run-museums-in-georgia-2124928 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Georgia Museums Respond to Unionization Push by Brazenly Firing Dozens of Employees |url=https://www.widewalls.ch/news-feed/georgia-museums-unionization |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Widewalls |language=en |archive-date=10 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710023351/https://www.widewalls.ch/news-feed/georgia-museums-unionization |url-status=live }}</ref> Among those fired was union chair, Nikoloz Tsikaridze, a senior researcher and archaeologist who associated the discharging of himself and other museum staff was for forming a union, and said that [[Thea Tsulukiani]], the Georgia Minister of Culture had "punished" them.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-26 |title=Georgian culture minister accused of purging critics from National Museum |url=https://oc-media.org/georgian-culture-minister-accused-of-purging-critics-from-national-museum/ |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=OC Media |language=en-US |archive-date=24 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624222801/https://oc-media.org/georgian-culture-minister-accused-of-purging-critics-from-national-museum/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Union vows to fight "unlawful mass dismissal" of Georgian National Museum employees |url=https://agenda.ge/en/news/2022/1938 |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Agenda.ge |archive-date=9 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609175255/https://agenda.ge/en/news/2022/1938 |url-status=live }}</ref>

;History
In the United States, labor unrest within the arts and cultural sector go back at least nearly a century to 1933 when a New York-based collective of artists eventually known as the Artist's Union used collective bargaining for state relief for unemployed artists.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Monroe |first=Gerald M. |date=1972 |title=The Artists Union of New York |journal=Art Journal |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=17–20 |doi=10.2307/775601 |jstor=775601}}</ref>
 
In 1971 administrative staff at New York's Museum of Modern Art formed the organization "Professional and Staff Association of the Museum of Modern Art" (PASTA), the first union of professional employees, as opposed to maintenance and service people, at a privately‐financed museum. The contract negotiated would provide a wage increase, protection against termination without cause, and direct access to trustees and policy-making processes at the museum. While there was some interest from workers at other museums at the time, for the next fifty years there was little change in museums adding union representation of their professional employees.<ref name="Small"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=September 26, 1971 |title=MOMA Gets a Taste of PASTA |pages=Section D, Page 24 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/26/archives/moma-gets-a-taste-of-pasta.html |access-date=2022-05-26}}</ref>