Workers At This Massachusetts Museum On Strike For Higher Pay

The saying goes, everyone deserves a fair pay in the workplace. Sometimes it's not always perfect in the real world unfortunately.

At the beginning of March 6th, we learned that Unionized employees at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams, Mass. went on strike indefinitely following the museum’s refusal to meet demands for increased wages. Union members voted 97 percent in favor of the strike.

YouTube/NEWS10

What is a "Union" Worker?

A Union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages and benefits, improving working conditions, improving safety standards, establishing complaint procedures, developing rules governing status of employees (rules governing promotions, just-cause conditions for termination) and protecting and increasing the bargaining power of workers.

According to Williams Record, $18.25 minimum is the hourly wage for all workers currently being paid below this figure and a 4.5-percent wage increase for all others. Full-time employees at the museum however currently earn an average of $43,600 a year, with the minimum hourly wage set at $16.25, according to the union.

Get our free mobile app

YouTube/NEWS10

Similar strikes happened in the previous years due to low wages which prompted MASS MoCA to offer a final increase of 3.5-percent in wages with a $17.25 hourly minimum. MASS MoCA Director of Communications Jennifer Falk said in a statement that MASS MoCA management is still offering strikers the most recent proposed increase in wages.

“Despite challenging financial realities, our minimum wage proposal is higher than any state-mandated minimum wage across the country,” Falk wrote to the Record. “Our operational capacity is still coming out of the economic upheaval of the pandemic, and we too experience the impacts of inflation.” - Jennifer Falk MASS MoCA Director of Communications

Workers stated that they will remain on strike for as long it takes for them to get the wages they need and deserve.

19 States Where The Minimum Wage Doesn't Match The Living Wage

According to MIT's Living Wage Calculator, this is what people actually need to make depending on their circumstances per hour.

The Hourly Wage Needed in Every State to Be Able to Afford Rent

For those struggling to make rent, the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach report provides insight on the wage required to live in any state. It revealed a bleak picture for minimum wage workers seeking to rent a two bedroom apartment. See the hourly wage you'd need to be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment in every state.

Gallery Credit: Kristen Matthews