With formal talks stalled, public officials look to kick-start negotiations to end PMA strike

The strike at the Philadelphia Museum of Art has now entered its third week — Tuesday was the 16th day workers have been on the picket lines — making it among the largest and longest museum strikes in city history.

Strikers were in evidence at various museum entrances Tuesday, but there were no formal talks scheduled between the museum management and the union, and the federal mediator who has been helping the two sides meet and work things out for two years is out of town until the end of this week.

» READ MORE: As strike continues, Philadelphia art museum says Matisse exhibit will go on

As of Tuesday evening, a stand-in mediator had not sought to bring the sides together this week, but observers cautioned that just because formal negotiations are not taking place does not mean the two sides are not talking.

Various public officials have also sought to kick-start negotiations. Several participants said that Josh Shapiro, attorney general and gubernatorial candidate, has been involved in seeking meetings between the two sides. So has David L. Cohen, ambassador to Canada, Comcast exec, and former chief of staff to Mayor Ed Rendell.

Current city officials are also working behind the scenes – all in an effort to bring the museum’s board of trustees and the union closer to a deal.

“It’s hard to know exactly what those conversations are like,” said one strike leader not directly involved in the talks. “But it does seem like the city is kind of getting more involved. As they should.”

A spokesperson for the museum said Tuesday night that there would be no comment on its special exhibition installation process, or on any strike contingency planning. Nor would there be comment on matters pertaining to the board of trustees.

» READ MORE: What do the art museum workers want? Five key issues at the heart of their strike.

While there is precedent for a walkout at the PMA — the museum was shut down for over two weeks in 1986 as part of a citywide strike by municipal employees, and it was hit during the Rendell administration by a similar, shorter job action —nothing compares to the current staffwide, museum-focused strike.

The PMA union, Local 397, is an affiliate of AFSCME DC 47, which also represents workers at the Philadelphia Zoo among other agencies and organizations. The PMA union was formed in 2020. It is the result of a lengthy organizing effort, one of a number of such successful unionization efforts in the last year or two at cultural institutions nationwide.

“I think this is part of a new trend we’re seeing in the labor movement with young workers turning to organizing and they’re having success at a moment when you start to see a lot of other young workers organizing in the coffee shops in places like Amazon, and Home Depot, as well in Philadelphia,” said Francis Ryan, a labor historian at Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor Relations.

“It’s kind of a generational movement that I see here.” Ryan said. “I see it as something coming out of a young workforce that is mostly college-educated and is aware of the role that they play in the economy. And you know, they understand that they need better benefits and better wages.”

Several members of the union have said that, in their view, the entrenched, older museum board members miscalculated the resolve of the strikers.

“I think miscalculated is a very good word,” said one participant.

“There’s virtually nobody who’s a bargaining unit member and a union member who’s crossing [the picket line] and they [museum executives] are shocked,” said the participant. Rather than striking staff folding after a week, “you’re now in week three.”

The museum has also appeared to misread the social media landscape. Over the weekend the museum decided to block users from posting comments on the museum’s Twitter and Instagram feeds.

On Sunday, the museum posted a message saying that “due to the high volume of inappropriate posts – including profane language – we have decided to disable comments at this time.”

“We believe it is our responsibility to maintain a civil discourse,” the posting says, “across our platform that respects and protects our staff, artists, and community collaborators.”

Immediately before the comments were blocked, the museum posted a plug for its blockbuster Matisse exhibit, opening Oct. 20. A VIP event is set for Saturday night at the museum to preview the Matisse show.

The last comment made urged the museum to “negotiate in good faith now!” And the comments immediately before that suggested “scabs” were hanging the show and vowed “NO contract. NO Matisse!”