The Brooklyn Museum is planning to implement layoffs in light of a growing budget deficit, according to Local 1502, a branch of the District Council 37 union, which represents workers at the institution including art handlers, maintainers, and curatorial assistants.
Local 1502 President Wilson Souffrant told Hyperallergic that he learned of the planned layoffs yesterday ahead of an all-staff meeting scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, February 7, during which the staff cuts are expected to be announced. The museum’s decision not to inform the union sooner, he claimed, may be in breach of a contract clause stipulating that they must be notified of the intent to implement staff cuts.
“We went to the National Labor Relations Board and started a process against them, but up to now we haven’t gotten any response,” Souffrant said in a call on Thursday afternoon, February 6. “They’ve decided to keep the union in the dark and layoff anybody they want.”
It is unclear how many workers will be affected across DC 37 and Local 2110 UAW, the museum’s other union, and whether top leadership positions will be impacted.
Hyperallergic has contacted the Brooklyn Museum as well as Local 2110 UAW for comment.
Per a press release from DC 37, the museum cited an increasing budget deficit as the reason for cost-cutting measures. However, the release says, layoffs would be in contradiction with the institution’s recent decision to approve some wage increases. In a July 2024 staff meeting, the museum said it expected that its projected deficit of $9 million would stabilize over the next three to four years.
“The Museum’s financial mismanagement and failure to adequately plan for non-staffing costs should not fall on the shoulders of union staff,” DC 37’s press release reads.
In an email on December 20, the museum’s director Anne Pasternak announced the sudden departure of Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Panicek Trueblood and Chief People Officer Allison Avery, both of whom Pasternak said were individually stepping down. According to museum’s the latest available 990 filings, Trueblood earned over $330,000 in the 2023 fiscal year.
The past year has been a particularly tumultuous one at the museum. Trueblood was one of four Brooklyn Museum leaders whose residences were vandalized with anti-Zionist protest graffiti last summer in the wake of a massive pro-Palestine demonstration at the institution during which dozens of activists were arrested.
The news of the possible staff cuts comes amid nationwide concerns for workers’ rights after President Donald Trump fired the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel and a Democratic member of the board late last month, effectively bringing the agency’s operations to a halt. The move has workers concerned that complaints such as the one filed by DC 37 might take much longer to process.
The museum plans to cut staff to address a growing deficit, according to Local 1502, which represents workers including art handlers and curatorial assistants.
