The Guggenheim Museum in New York will dismiss 20 employees, about 7% of its staff, the institution announced today, 28 February, with reference to post-Pandemic limitations. The cuts on staff come into effect and will influence all departments, except for senior leadership and curators, the New York Times reported. It is the third round of dismissal in the museum in five years.
“The extensive post-Pandemic period has presented a number of challenges that have been felt about our field, in the United States and abroad, including rising costs, variable attendance levels and changes in international tourism,” said a spokesperson for the Guggenheim Hyperallergic In a statement.
In recent years, the museum has increased ticket prices, reduced operating costs and implemented the hiring of freezes; However, the spokesperson continued: “Our current financial photo requires that we make the difficult decision to reduce staff and reorganize some teams to properly position the museum for the future.”
The redundancies met 14 trade union workers in local 2110 United Auto Workers, told President Olga Brudastova of the chapter Hyperallergic. She added that they were terminated from their positions “without notification” and “denied any trade union representation” at the meetings with regard to the dismissals.
“The trade union has already filed a complaint about this and has demanded information and negotiation with the museum about the dismissals,” said Brudastova.
A spokesperson for Guggenheim said that the dismissals had no influence on employees in the other negotiation unit of the museum, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30.
Two previous dismissal rounds in the Guggenheim Museum affected in the past five years More than two dozen employees, including Two Vice directors. In the midst of the reductions, the previous director Richard Armstrong of the museum, who was resigned from the role in 2023, took home total compensation packages that achieved more than $ 1 million, according to the museum tax return.
The staff on the Guggenheim follow recent massive dismissal in the Brooklyn Museum with 47 full and part -time employees. On Tuesday, February 25, Brooklyn Museum employees and supporters protested against the cuts with a meeting outside dinner of the institution. This morning, the City Council’s Committee on Civil Service and Labor held a supervision hearing to assess the dismissals in which representatives of the Union and city officials encouraged the museum to “export all options” to prevent personnel reductions.
