New York City Mayoral-Elect Zohran Mamdani has signed an open letter supporting roughly 1,000 workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art who filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to form a bargaining unit. The vote is scheduled for January 13 and 15, 2026, and if approved, the Met would become the largest unionized museum in the country. The letter, released December 18 by the United Auto Workers (UAW), was also signed by Comptroller Elect Mark Levine and Manhattan Borough President Elect Brad Hoylman-Sigal, among other officials. The proposed union would cover curators, conservators, educators, and retail staff, citing long-term pay inequities, lack of job protection, and increasing workloads.
This development matters because it reflects a broader surge in unionization within the cultural sector since the Covid-19 pandemic, which exposed persistent pay disparities between management and front-line museum workers. If successful, the Met union would set a major precedent for labor organizing at large museums nationwide. The campaign also highlights tensions between worker demands for better wages and job security and the museum's pursuit of major capital projects funded by private donors.