What is normally one of San Francisco’s glitziest arts fundraisers had a very different kind of red carpet yesterday, as more than a dozen security guards picketed outside the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. As guests streamed in for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s annual gala, guards held signs and chanted about short staffing and safety, turning a high-profile night into a public showdown over long-simmering workplace complaints. They said recent scheduling proposals would thin out night shifts in ways that could put staff, visitors and the museum’s collection at risk.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, picketers carried signs that read "Short staff = short sighted" and "Reducing staff is reducing safety" while chanting "Safe museums now!" as gala patrons walked past. Jane Coffey, a de Young guard, warned, "If you have smaller shifts, it's dangerous," and Raina Johnson, a chapter president for SEIU 1021 at the museums, argued that cutting trained officers threatens workers, visitors and the art itself.
What museum says
FAMSF’s director of communications, Lindsay Wright, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the institution has proposed schedule changes that prioritize the busiest hours and that "Minor schedule shifts were made for a small subset of the security team," with the goal of ensuring coverage when visitor volume is highest. Inside the gala, FAMSF director Thomas Campbell said the event raised roughly $2.3 million for exhibitions and community programs, the Chronicle reported.
Legal history and settlements
The protest comes on the heels of reporting that at least nine lawsuits have been filed by guards since 2016 and that the city has paid more than $1 million to settle seven of those cases, as documented by The San Francisco Standard. The complaints accuse the museums of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation within the security ranks, and some guards say those problems persisted even after management changes.
Alarm at the gala
Union members also pointed to a tense moment during the evening when two fire alarms went off, prompting a response from the San Francisco Fire Department, which later determined there was no emergency. Guards said the episode underscored what they view as real, immediate risks that could be heightened by reduced overnight staffing.
Union leaders say they plan to press management in upcoming bargaining sessions, while museum officials maintain that any scheduling changes will follow the collective bargaining agreement and concentrate coverage where visitors are most numerous. The protest underscores the tightrope the Fine Arts Museums now have to walk: managing budget pressures, protecting a world-class collection and keeping the people who guard it feeling safe enough to stay on the job.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article included outdated budget documents.
