New York City Mayoral-Elect Zohran Mamdani has signed an open letter in support of roughly 1,000 workers of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York who filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board in November to approve a bargaining unit. The vote is scheduled to take place on January 13 and 15, 2026, and if it passes, the Met would become the largest unionized museum in the country.
The letter was released on December 18 by the United Auto Workers (UAW), which represents the Met workers. It was signed by an assembly of current and incoming New York City and State officials, including Comptroller Elect Mark Levine and Manhattan Borough President Elect Brad Hoylman-Sigal. “The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a gem of our state, and one of the greatest art museums of the world, relies upon its dedicated staff who preserve and present its collection, welcome thousands of visitors daily, and disseminate knowledge about art beyond the walls of the Museum,” reads the letter.
It continues: “These workers, coming together to fight for better wages, healthcare, and job security fulfills the ethos of what we mean when we say, “New York is a Union Town.” We proudly support collective bargaining rights for these and other museum workers in New York. We wish the workers luck in their election, and we look forward to working with both Museum leadership and UAW Local 2110 in the future toward a fair agreement.”
The proposed Met union would cover curators, conservators, educators, and retail staff. Currently, two smaller unions at the museum represent security guards and projectionists. Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers (UAW) has cited “long term pay inequities, lack of job protection and ever-increasing workloads” as motivations for unionizing. (Local 2110 is a major union in New York City, representing workers at the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Guggenheim, the Whitney Museum, the New Museum, and the Shed, among others.)
Momentum for unionization in the cultural sector has surged in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which highlighted consistent pay disparities between management and front-line workers at museums nationwide. Each campaign has been united by demands for job security, higher wages, and clearer paths for advancement. At the Met, calls for better pay have intensified as leadership presses ahead with major capital projects funded by private donors whose contributions were explicitly earmarked for this purpose.
“Over many decades, we have worked to develop a culture of inclusivity, collaboration and creativity, and take every opportunity to uplift our employees,” Ann Bailis, a Met Museum spokeswoman, told the New York Times. “We respect the right to seek union representation and are proud of our longstanding relationships with DC37 and Local 306 IATSE, which represent a large segment of our staff.”
