[iatsu.pavu.com] on Wed, 10 May 2000 19:17:23 +0200 (CEST) |
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]
[Nettime-bold] SUPPORT THE MOMA STRIKERS! AND VOTE ! |
cross-country poll Reminder : there is only one day left to vote for MOMA or for POPA before the result to be known Express yourself and forward! Where : http://www.pavu.com/elliott-moma-and-popa/index.shtml thanks for your attention -- for pavu.com jean-philippe halgand - iatsu executive http://pavu.com -/ welcome in a plining world ! /- ---------------- > De : rdom@THING.NET > Répondre à : rdom@THING.NET > Date : Thu, 11 May 2000 09:16:25 -0400 > À : list@rhizome.org > Objet : RHIZOME_RAW: SUPPORT THE MOMA STRIKERS! > > ARTISTS!!!!!!ARTISTS!!!!!ARTISTS!!!!!ARTISTS!!!!!ARTISTS!!!!!ARTISTS! > > SHOW AT > MoMA! > > SUPPORT THE MOMA STRIKERS! > > JOIN THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF OF > THE MUSEUM ON THE PICKET LINES > > Friday, May 12, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. > 11 West 53rd Street > > STAND UP FOR FAIR WAGES, HEALTHCARE, AND THE DIGNITY OF ALL ART > PROFESSIONALS > > GROUP ROAR AT 5:30...BECAUSE YOU CAN'T EAT PRESTIGE. > > Since April 28 the professional and administrative staff at MoMA has > been on strike for fair wages, job security, and a decent healthcare > plan. We invite all artists and members of the arts community to > express support for the strikers and for the dignity of all arts > professional. > > ***PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THE > STRIKE*** > ______________________________________________ > > > >> THE MoMA PICKET LINES: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ART COMMUNITY FROM THE >> PROFESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF OF THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART >> >> May 3, 2000 >> >> Dear Friends and Colleagues: >> >> As many of you might already know, the Professional and Administrative > Staff >> Association of The Museum of Modern Art (PASTA-MoMA) is currently on > strike >> after a substantial majority of its members voted to reject the > Museum's >> final contract offer. To clarify the reasons for our current actions we > >> would like to introduce some of the issues at stake. >> >> We, the Museum's curators, librarians, archivists, registrars, > educators, >> editors, conservators, and administrative staff, are asking for a fair >> contract. Negotiations began seven months ago and have now broken off, > and >> we feel that we have yet to see good-faith bargaining from the Museum. > The >> issues in contention are basic ones, including a modest pay increase > and the >> security of our healthcare coverage. >> >> The current starting salary for some 40 positions at the Museum is > $17,000 >> per year, and the median salary of all PASTA members is less than > $29,000. >> We have asked management to raise minimum salaries to $20,000, but it > has >> refused to make any increase over $17,510. We have asked for a first > year 5% >> across-the-board increase with 4% for subsequent years, which was also >> refused. The salaries of nonmanagement MoMA staffers are sufficiently > low >> that each percentage point of pay increase for all 250 employees in the > >> bargaining unit costs the Museum only $70,000, a sum it often earns in > a >> single day through the sale of admission tickets alone. >> >> As for healthcare, the Museum has asked the union to forfeit its right > to >> negotiate with management over any changes to the healthcare package > that >> management may propose during the life of the contract--a right that is > >> granted to unions by U.S. law. This proposal, if the union accepted it, > >> would effectively allow the Museum to cut back the staff's healthcare > at any >> time and to any degree without consulting PASTA as to what the > healthcare >> priorities of its members might be. The Museum has denied that it > intends to >> reduce the healthcare package, but it has not made clear to us why, in > that >> case, it wants the union to give up its healthcare negotiating rights. >> >> There are currently five other unions at MoMA, which represent > functions of >> the Museum including security, art handling, and housekeeping. Of all > the >> unions, PASTA has the lowest base pay, average pay, and median pay. We > are >> also the only union in which membership is purely optional, a weakness > that >> management has used to try to divide us. These facts merit the > attention not >> only of the Museum's management and our Board of Trustees but of the > art >> world at large--all the artists, teachers and professors of art and art > >> history, all the professionals and trustees of other museums and >> not-for-profit organizations, all the writers and critics, and anyone > who >> believes that art is a vital part of society. >> >> We ask you to consider the ethical questions at hand. We are not on the > >> picket lines outside MoMA merely to discourage people from entering the > >> building. In fact this is a position that many of us find > extraordinarily >> painful and one that runs counter to every impulse that brought us into > our >> profession in the first place. We feel that we are here to defend that >> profession's integrity. We are asking the Museum to acknowledge our >> commitment and our contributions with something other than words. Like > any >> other field that exacts dedication and rigor, museum work is a > profession, >> not an intellectual hobby. >> >> In a recent memo to the Museum staff, Glenn D. Lowry, Director, stated: > "We >> are determined not to let the strike interfere with MoMA's mission." >> However, every professional staff member on the picket line plays an >> essential role in shaping and preserving that mission. The quality of > the >> exhibitions, the catalogues, and the education and membership programs > at >> the Museum depends on us from conception to realization. An exhibition > on >> the scale of Making Choices, which just opened, could not have been > mounted >> without the extraordinary contributions of union members working > hundreds of >> hours of overtime without compensation. The level of achievement at > MoMA is >> disproportionate to the salaries and security offered to its > professional >> staff. >> >> A principle is at stake. It is in the best interest of all who champion > art >> to speak out and urge the Museum to address these issues now. We invite > you >> to join our picket line. We ask that you send a letter or fax to Mr. > Lowry >> (212-708-9744) and to Agnes Gund, President (212-708-9415). Most >> importantly, we appeal to you to help end this strike by encouraging >> management to return to the table and negotiate in good faith and with > due >> respect for the Museum's professional staff. >> >> Sincerely, >> PASTA-MoMA/Local 2110 >> >> Among those who contributed to this letter are: >> Darsie Alexander, Department of Photography >> Sally Berger, Department of Film and Video >> Julia Corcoran, Department of Writing Services >> Jon Cordova, Office of the Registrar >> Harris Dew, Department of Communications >> Carina Evangelista, Department of Painting and Sculpture >> Starr Figura, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books >> David Frankel, Department of Publications >> Judy Hecker, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books >> Laura Hoptman, Department of Drawings >> Cary Levine, Department of Painting and Sculpture >> Matilda McQuaid, Department of Architecture and Design >> Harper Montgomery, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books >> Jasmine Moorhead, Department of Publications >> Laura Morris, Department of Publications >> Clay Stopek, International Program >> Jennifer Tobias, Library >> Michelle Yun, Department of Painting and Sculpture >> >> PASTA-MoMA Negotiating Committee: >> Stefanii Atkins, Office of the Registrar >> Michael Cinquina, Office of the Book Buyer >> Daniel Fermon, Library >> John Greiner, Visitor Services >> Joe Hannan, Department of Writing Services >> Michael Regan, Visitor Services >> Maida Rosenstein, Local 2110 >> Chantal Veraart, Library >> Phil Wheeler, Northeast Regional UAW >> Michael Yard, Department of Sales and Marketing > > ________________________________________________________________________ > > > > > .............................................. > craig@kalpakjian.com > http://www.kalpakjian.com > .............................................. > > + > -> Rhizome.org > -> post: list@rhizome.org > -> questions: info@rhizome.org > -> unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/unsubscribe/ > -> give: http://rhizome.org/support > + > Subscribers to Rhizome Raw are subject to the terms set out in the > Subscriber Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/subscribe/ > _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold