This afternoon, May 8, during a monthly all-staff meeting, 10 employees of Maryland’s Glenstone Museum read a letter announcing their intent to unionize. The workers represent around 100 hourly staff members — half of the private contemporary art museum’s workforce — in the institution’s curatorial, engineering and maintenance, grounds, community engagement, cafe, and registration departments, among others. Over the past six weeks, 65 members of the bargaining unit have signed Union Authorization Cards to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
After the announcement, Grounds and Visitor Services Liaison Elizabeth Shaw handed the letter to Emily Rales, Glenstone’s billionaire co-founder, who was seated with museum leadership. Shaw and her colleagues gave the institution 24 hours to voluntarily recognize their new union. The move would expedite the labor organizing process. Should Glenstone choose not to, the staff members will need to file for a union election with the National Board of Labor Relations.
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Glenstone has not responded to Hyperallergic’s immediate request for comment.
According to the letter, reviewed by Hyperallergic, the workers want living wages for all workers, healthcare for every employee, including part-time workers, a safer work environment, and increased transparency. According to Shaw, the lowest-paid members of the bargaining unit make $20.58 an hour, above the $15 minimum wage but lower than the $27.12 living wage in Montgomery County, as calculated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Founded in 2006 by Mitchell Rales, a biotech and medical manufacturing mogul who now serves as president of DC’s National Gallery of Art, and his wife Emily Rales, Glenstone exhibits primarily post-war art in what the museum describes as “a place that seamlessly integrates art, architecture, and nature into a serene and contemplative environment.” The institution’s indoor-outdoor architecture, timed and therefore limited foot traffic, and lack of wall text contribute to what Hyperallergic contributor Maura Callahan described in a 2022 article as a “carefully designed visitor experience as a retreat from the outside world.”
The museum is one of a few free and well-regarded museums in the United States founded in the last few decades by wealthy patrons, along with Los Angeles’s Broad Museum and Arkansas’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Shaw, who started the museum’s Emerging Professional Program after graduating college in 2022, told Hyperallergic her favorite part about working at Glenstone was the people.
“When I started, I was blown away by the knowledge, creativity, and dedication of the guide team,” she said. Her job involved leading visitors through the museum’s 300-acre campus. “The more I talk with associates from other departments, the more this excellence shines through.”
Source: Hyperallergic.com