Letter to the Walker Community

Dear Walker Art Center Community,

Several weeks ago, a group of Walker Art Center employees informed us of their intention to organize a union for Walker staff. From the outset of this process, the Walker has affirmed the right of employees to unionize and indicated a willingness to working with union leadership should a majority of the staff indicate an interest in being represented by a union.

We encouraged all of our staff to engage in open and respectful dialogue about this important issue and to explore fully the benefits and drawbacks that staff might experience. Through these conversations, we heard many interests, concerns, and perspectives. We learned that among the Walker staff there are both strong contingents of employees who do and do not want to unionize, with many more individuals sharing opinions that ranged between these two viewpoints.

To honor this spectrum of staff interests, Walker representatives reached out to AFSCME, the employee organizers’ chosen union, to determine whether we could find a path forward together. Yesterday, we reached a compromise agreement on a bargaining unit at the Walker that respects the different perspectives of our staff. This agreement allows the union process to continue across the departments and positions that most actively sought to unionize and leaves out of the bargaining unit many of the individuals who expressed their disinterest in being represented.

I believe that this compromise agreement is essential to uniting our staff and to continuing in our work together to realize our vision for the Walker as an institution that values collaboration, open dialogue, clarity in its actions, and commitment to our community and to each other. As I have said before, our opportunity moving forward is to continue reimagining how a museum like ours can be structured, and to continue to seek employee input and feedback in ways that could help us create new and exemplary models for both programming and our internal structures.

We look forward to working with AFSCME leadership in their representation of a portion of our staff and also to working with and supporting our non-union employees. Through these important internal shifts, I want to assure the entire Walker community that our dedication to you has not changed. Our mission is to catalyze the work of living artists and to bring outstanding and relevant experiences with art to you, and will continue to do so through our digital platforms and in our in-person exhibitions and events.

Mary Ceruti
Executive Director