Please Touch Museum Workers Secure First Union Contract with AFSCME

In a significant development for labor rights within cultural institutions, employees at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia have ratified their inaugural collective bargaining agreement after more than a year of discussions.

Represented by AFSCME Local 397 under District Council 47, the workers celebrated this milestone on November 24th through an Instagram post. A notable achievement in the contract is the introduction of paid parental leave, a first for the museum's staff.

The agreement provides for an immediate 13.3% increase in the minimum wage for bargaining unit members, with other employees receiving raises between 8% and 11%. Over the next four years, employees can expect total wage increases of up to 24%, along with reduced health insurance contributions, options to roll over vacation and sick days, and preferential hiring for internal applicants for open positions.

“Museum and cultural workers have traditionally accepted low pay and precarious conditions as a trade-off for doing mission-driven work,” explained DC 47 President April Gigetts. “But those conditions aren’t sustainable for people who need a paycheck to live. As museums become more racially and economically diverse workplaces, workers are increasingly demanding the same rights and protections as those in other industries.”

The movement to unionize began in April 2023 when Please Touch Museum workers voted to form a union, marking it as Philadelphia's first unionized children's museum. During their campaign for a fair contract, the workers garnered substantial community support, evidenced by a petition with over 650 signatures.

Please Touch Museum United is now among three cultural unions in Philadelphia to have successfully negotiated their first contracts through the AFSCME Cultural Workers United initiative over the past two years. This follows the Philadelphia Museum of Art Union, which secured a contract after a notable strike in October 2022, and the Penn Museum Workers United, who ratified their contract in June 2023.