Three New York museums ratify union contracts, strike averted: Brooklyn, Guggenheim and American Folk Art sign the peace

After months of collective bargaining and strike threats, the unionised employees of the Brooklyn Museum and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum ratified their second contracts this week, as Hyperallergic reported on 2 October. At the same time, the union of the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) ratified the first contract in the history of its relations with the museum — a particular victory after nearly two years of difficult talks, according to ARTnews.

The Brooklyn Museum and AFAM finalised four-year contracts this week, while the Guggenheim and the Jewish Museum had ratified their agreements back in September. The employees were negotiating for higher wages and better working conditions, represented by the UAW Local 2110 union.

The road to agreement was not easy. AFAM employees had protested outside the institution’s annual gala at the Mandarin Oriental on 6 May 2026, taking their case before donors and the public. Although strikes were averted at these three museums, the threat has not entirely left the city’s cultural scene.

Meanwhile, the union of the Whitney Museum of American Art still keeps its strike deadline for Monday, 5 October — just before the press and VIP previews, as well as the public opening on 11 October of the Roy Lichtenstein retrospective, which the employees are ready to boycott. A strike on the eve of one of the autumn’s most anticipated exhibitions would be a heavy blow to the museum.

The context of these negotiations is difficult: the Brooklyn Museum and the Guggenheim had cut staff at the beginning of 2025 due to financial constraints. The ratification of the new contracts thus marks not only the end of a chapter of tensions, but also a new guarantee of stability for hundreds of employees of some of New York’s most important cultural institutions.