Roughly 180 unionized employees of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) will go on strike today as part of a continuing effort to secure a fair contract, for which they have been negotiating with museum officials for two years. The union—which formed in May 2020 under the aegis of AFSCME District Council 47, Local 397—has accused PMA management of dragging its feet in the bargaining process, which began in October 2020. The strike arrives in the wake of a one-day warning strike staged by staff in early September, which itself came a week after union bosses filed an unfair labor practices grievance with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming malfeasance on the part of PMA, which says it will remain open during the action. Of note, the strike comes as unionized workers of the Carnegie Museums in Pittsburgh lobby for a living wage, which they began…
