JANUARY 6, 2023
Greetings United Museum Workers,
It’s our first Bargaining Update of 2023 and we have news we need to share with you.
On January 6, during our first Bargaining Session of 2023, CMP notified us they would like to offer an across the board wage increase of 2.5% for all museum employees. The increase will take effect in the first full pay period of 2023 (beginning January 8, 2023), and the increase will be reflected in the February 3, 2023 paycheck. We are happy to report that like all previous times CMP has offered to increase wages for employees during contract bargaining, we have agreed to these raises.
With that said, we are not celebrating this as a win. As many of you know, in August of last year we gave CMP our first wage proposal that emphasized the importance of our lowest paid workers earning a living wage, and increasing the wages of all UMW members accordingly. This 2.5% increase does not get us there. It does little to address the fact that all of the United Museum Workers are currently severely underpaid for the work they do. CMP has told us at the bargaining table that they can afford to meet our demand for a living wage, but they are just choosing not to.
As of January 2 our museums increased their public admission rates. Following this increase, it would take more than two hours of work for the lowest paid employees to earn enough to buy a ticket to one of the museums. It’s unfortunate that CMP is not yet ready to apply this same understanding of increased costs to the pressing needs of our members. Clearly we’ve got a fight ahead of us if we are going to achieve the kind of wage increases we deserve, but we can do it if we stand and fight together.
In solidarity,
The United Museum Workers Bargaining Committee
It’s our first Bargaining Update of 2023 and we have news we need to share with you.
On January 6, during our first Bargaining Session of 2023, CMP notified us they would like to offer an across the board wage increase of 2.5% for all museum employees. The increase will take effect in the first full pay period of 2023 (beginning January 8, 2023), and the increase will be reflected in the February 3, 2023 paycheck. We are happy to report that like all previous times CMP has offered to increase wages for employees during contract bargaining, we have agreed to these raises.
With that said, we are not celebrating this as a win. As many of you know, in August of last year we gave CMP our first wage proposal that emphasized the importance of our lowest paid workers earning a living wage, and increasing the wages of all UMW members accordingly. This 2.5% increase does not get us there. It does little to address the fact that all of the United Museum Workers are currently severely underpaid for the work they do. CMP has told us at the bargaining table that they can afford to meet our demand for a living wage, but they are just choosing not to.
As of January 2 our museums increased their public admission rates. Following this increase, it would take more than two hours of work for the lowest paid employees to earn enough to buy a ticket to one of the museums. It’s unfortunate that CMP is not yet ready to apply this same understanding of increased costs to the pressing needs of our members. Clearly we’ve got a fight ahead of us if we are going to achieve the kind of wage increases we deserve, but we can do it if we stand and fight together.
In solidarity,
The United Museum Workers Bargaining Committee
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