As Carnegie Museums Reopen, Workers Launch Unionization Effort

PITTSBURGH, June 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that roughly 500 workers from the Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Science Center are taking steps toward organizing a union at their workplaces.

At 6:30 p.m. today, the union will sponsor a multimedia campaign launch and virtual card drop to be streamed on both Facebook Live and YouTube, where employees from each of the museums will talk about the many reasons that they have chosen to join together and bargain with a stronger voice for safer workplaces and fair wages and benefits.

Workers who will participate in the campaign perform a variety of important jobs at the museums, interact with guests constantly and often care for priceless or unique exhibits.

The announcement comes on the eve of the 128th anniversary of the Battle of Homestead, a watershed moment in U.S. labor history, where workers engaged in a strike against Carnegie Steel over issues that included management ignoring employees' concerns about dangerous working conditions and low wages.

WHO: Workers from all four of the Carnegie Museums

WHAT: Multimedia Launch of Organizing Campaign with the USW

WHEN: 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 29, 2020

WHERE: https://www.facebook.com/steelworkers/live/ or   https://www.youtube.com/Steelworkers

The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.

Contact: Jess Kamm Broomell, (412) 562-2444, [email protected]

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)