Unionized Penn Museum staff members staged an informational picket outside the building on Wednesday to protest low wages and call for major contract improvements.
The July 9 picket was the latest attempt by Penn Museum Workers United — a chapter of Philly Cultural Workers United — to secure increased pay rates following the June 30 expiration of the union’s two-year contract with the University. The union unanimously authorized a strike on July 2 and has continued to negotiate demands in the week since.
Penn Museum Workers United is part of AFSCME District Council 47, which represents various institutions and workers in Philadelphia — including the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Zoo.
Halcyone Schiller, the president of AFSCME Local 397 — which represents cultural workers in Philadelphia — described the picket as an effort “to make some noise” in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian.
“We’re not going to back down,” Schiller said. “We’re not going to let go of this without a fight.”
Approximately 50 people gathered outside the museum’s gardens and remained on the property for the duration of the picket. The demonstration continued uninterrupted from 5:00 p.m. to approximately 6:30 p.m., when organizers warned of incoming thunderstorms.
Schiller has participated in both sessions of the union’s negotiations, including those that have followed this year’s contract expiration. She also led the charge of the picket, offering food and drinks to other members and encouraging passing cars to honk in support — in an effort to “make the museum notice” their demands.
Sarah Shaw — who organizes with AFSCME Local 397 and serves as the lead negotiator for the union — emphasized the University’s “resistance” despite the museum’s inability “to run without [the workers]” in an interview with the DP.
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“The average annual salary in the bargaining unit is less than $45,000,” Shaw said. “We’re looking for raises that will not only allow workers to keep up with increases in the cost of living, but to do better over time.”
Union leaders also handed out flyers that emphasized Penn’s continued “lowball pay proposals” despite the University’s “annual operating budget of $4.7 billion.”
“It’s not so much to ask from the University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer and one of the wealthiest in the city,” Shaw said.
Shaw noted that Penn’s proposals “would not even represent a raise at this point for museum workers” due to inflation. According to Shaw, the University’s offers represent an effective “pay cut.”
The union first ratified its contract with Penn in June 2023, after voting to unionize in August 2021. While Shaw called the initial contact an “improvement” for “the working conditions and precarity in museum work,” she emphasized that “there are still some major improvements to make with this [current] contract.”
“The pay in this bargaining unit is still very, very low,” she said. “50% of the starting pay rates are below what the MIT Living Wage Calculator considers to be a living wage in Philadelphia.”
Jennifer Chiappardi, who has worked as a photographer at the Penn Museum for 24 years, told the DP that the museum’s previous raises for workers were “minimal” and never amounted to a “living wage.”
“We’re constantly falling behind instead of moving with the times,” Chiappardi said. “We just ended our two-year contract, and prior to that, there was absolutely no way to organize or be excited or try and get extra money.”
Chiappardi recalled requesting increased pay without success “several times in the past because [she] couldn’t pay her bills.” She referred to the current negotiation process as a period of “progress” that represents a “culture where we’re excited to work together.”
Shaw also pointed to the union’s strike authorization as an indication of its continued action for “reasonable demands.” She highlighted, however, that although “the executive board of the local is ready to call a strike if it becomes necessary,” the picket is “just to continue sending Penn the message that we’re going to keep fighting.”
Robert Harris, the vice president and legislative director for District Council 47, similarly told the DP that the demonstration proves that the union is “serious” in its hope to communicate with the University on agreeable terms.
Harris also noted that he hoped his involvement would show his community that “their council leadership is here to support them.”
The demonstration reflects a surge in unionization efforts across Penn’s campus — including a June 12 rally organized by Research Associates and Postdocs United at Penn to demand a union election. RAPUP’s official National Labor Relations Board election is set for July 16-17, despite the University engaging in what organizers called an “anti-union campaign.”
According to Shaw, members of Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors and other supporters from the “Philadelphia labor community” were present at the picket.
“We all turn out for each other,” she said. “This is the struggle for working-class people to improve the lives of working-class people. It is very unifying — it is maybe the most unifying struggle right now.”
