Staff at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston have pulled off a quiet workplace shakeup. Museum employees organized a new union that management has now formally recognized, setting the stage for collective bargaining with leadership. The bargaining unit covers just over 90 workers across visitor services, development and curatorial teams. Organizers say they are pushing for better pay, stronger job protections and basic health and safety improvements for front-line staff.
According to the Boston Globe, the museum voluntarily recognized UAW Local 2110 shortly after employees approached leadership in early April. That move allowed workers to skip a formal NLRB election in favor of a card-count process. Maida Rosenstein, Local 2110’s director of organizing, told the paper, “That all happened quite quickly,” and organizers said they hope to elect a bargaining committee and begin talks this summer. In a statement, ICA director Nora Burnett Abrams said the museum “look[s] forward to working collaboratively and in good faith” with the union.
Money and leverage: ICA's finances
The museum’s own numbers suggest there is room to negotiate. The ICA reported an operating surplus of about $800,000 for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025, roughly $250,000 more than the previous year, according to the ICA annual report for 2024–25. Organizers have pointed to those figures as evidence that the institution can afford to improve wages and staffing levels.
What workers want and next steps
Staff told the Boston Globe that entry-level pay at the ICA sits only slightly above the minimum wage. Top concerns include protections against layoffs and straightforward fixes like adequate rest and seating for visitor-facing staff. Events coordinator Carter Seggev, who said he earns about $50,000 a year, described the organizing drive as a push not only for higher pay but also for a stronger voice in the museum’s day-to-day decisions. Workers now plan to elect a bargaining committee from among staff and begin drafting specific contract proposals.
Part of a regional museum labor wave
The ICA effort is part of a broader museum-union wave that has been rolling across the United States. UAW Local 2110 already represents workers at institutions including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and MASS MoCA, a pattern chronicled by The Art Newspaper. Organizers and labor observers say that rising living costs, combined with pandemic-era staffing decisions, have pushed many underpaid, early-career museum workers toward collective bargaining.
The immediate next steps at the ICA are the election of a bargaining committee and the drafting of opening proposals. If the current timeline holds, staff and management could be at the negotiating table this summer. Both sides say they want to proceed in good faith, and the outcome of those talks will determine whether pay and protections at the ICA can keep up with Boston’s escalating cost of living.
