Sonoma Valley Museum of Art employees push to unionize

Staff at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art are getting organized.

That was the message Friday, when a group calling itself Cultural Workers United posted an announcement saying the staff of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art seeks “policy shifts… (that) acknowledge the vast amount of time and human energy given by staff to create, maintain and help our institution grow.”

To support that, the announcement continued, “we believe that the formation of our union, Cultural Workers United-AFSCME DC57, is the logical next step in this endeavor for a more egalitarian workplace.”

The announcement was signed by the CWU Organizing Committee, which listed members Diane Egger-Bovet, Patricia Liverman, Amelia Martinez, Kathy McHoes and Sarah Parker.

The announcement was posted April 1 via social media channels and simultaneously delivered as a letter to Sonoma Valley Museum of Art Executive Director Linda Keaton.

The museum employs 19 staff and the group says it has a “super majority” support for the union.

“We are poised at a pivotal moment in history where our institution must actively align its actions with its professed values, both within the public eye as well as in private,” read the announcement.

In forming the union, the group says it will commit to the following: “creating transparent policies and practices; ensuring management accountability to staff concerns; advocating for an equitable workplace; thoroughly embedding diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion into our workplace; and working alongside the leadership to shape the future of the organization.”

In a response to the CWU Organizing Committee’s letter, Keaton said museum officials “welcome a dialogue with our employees” to ensure the nonprofit is “a place of inclusion, accessibility and diversity.”

“As this process is new to the museum, we’ll be carefully considering responses and courses of action that will ensure we hold our commitment of Building Community Around Art to benefit all SVMA stakeholders—members, staff, volunteers, students, families and the other communities we have served for over two decades,” said Keaton in a statement released Friday afternoon. “We intend to respond to the letter in a timely manner.”

The CWU Organizing Committee has given the museum’s leadership until April 8 to voluntarily recognize the union. If it doesn’t, organizers will appeal to the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) for an election, voted upon by museum staff. A simple majority would allow NRLB to certify the union, according to Ashley Mates, of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, which is helping SVMA staff organize.

SVMA staff members told the Index-Tribune this week that if and when the union is established, the first order of business will be to invoke their right to collective bargaining.

Patricia Liverman, an SVMA teaching artist, said employee wages prevent the staff as a whole from realizing the level of “organization-wide” equity and accessibility promised in the museum’s mission statement at svma.org/about/#Equity.

“Entry-level wages are really low, so it depends on a level of privilege (for a job applicant) to get their foot in the door,” she said, speaking generally of careers at museums. “If you don’t come from a situation with privilege, it’s a dicey proposition to get into this line of work.”

Other hiring practices can favor applicants of privilege, as well, they said. Amelia Martinez, the museum’s administrative coordinator, said entry-level museum work often depends on first being able to take on an unpaid internship, or requires college degrees that aren’t necessary for the job responsibilities.

According to Mates, “The bar to get into museum work in the first place is a high one,” adding to the lack of equity and accessibility to support diversity in staffing.

“The inequalities that exist in Sonoma Valley exist at the museum in a micro-form,” said Sarah Parker, the museum’s education coordinator, adding that staff would like more “say in how the museum functions.”

Other goals for the group include establishing clearer management policies. “Policy and procedure are kind of arbitrary, based on what management wants to do,” Martinez said. “We want policies that are enforceable, consistent and codified.”

Diane Egger-Bovet is among the teaching artists who were recently reclassified from SVMA contract workers to part-time staff under AB-5, the 2020 “worker status” state legislation that sought to ensure independent contractors at certain organizations were guaranteed the same benefits and rights as employees.

“Now that we’re employees, we should have a voice,” said Egger-Bovet. “Organizing empowers everyone.”

Egger-Bovet applauded SVMA for offering diversity training, but said the organization can do more. “It was a really good first step.”

Group members said the larger goal is to create a more equitable and accessible museum for the entire community, not just a few dedicated stakeholders. In the letter, they challenge museum leadership to honor the commitment in its equity statement, “to eliminate the inequities of historically marginalized groups… (while) compassionately urging our direct stakeholders – and colleagues in the field – to do the same.”

“We’re really happy people feel ownership (of SVMA),” said Martinez. “But we wish that could piggyback to the whole community.”

The CWU Organizing Committee has launched an online petition to encourage SVMA to recognize CWU as a union. Visit actionnetwork.org/petitions.

Email Jason Walsh at Jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.