[Nettime-bold] SUPPORT THE MOMA STRIKERS! AND VOTE !

["[iatsu.pavu.com]" <jean-philippe.halgand@pavu.com>]

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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
> ..............................................
> 
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