Dozens of employees at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) have gone public with their cross-departmental push to unionize through AFSCME Cultural Workers United this week, hopping on the years-long wave of arts and culture institution workforces organizing nationwide. Under the title DIA Workers United, the group presented the museum with a letter requesting recognition of its union on Tuesday, November 4.

A spokesperson for AFSCME Michigan told Hyperallergic that they’re “working towards voluntary recognition, and the relationship with the museum has been very positive,” also noting that DIA Workers United represents a “strong majority that is growing every single day.”

Sarah Burger, one of the organizers for DIA Workers United who has worked at the museum as a preparator for 20 years now, told Hyperallergic over the phone that serious conversations about unionizing started towards the end of 2024, and now “almost every single department within the museum is being represented at this point.”

Burger explained that like many other cultural worker unions, DIA Workers United comes together out of love for the museum and the work being done within it, telling Hyperallergic that staff are “passionate about their work, but they just wanna make ends meet.”

“ I personally have been priced out of two neighborhoods,” Burger stated. She said she’s lived in Detroit for 25 years, and that the city is in the midst of a major development and revitalization effort that has already led to rising rents and housing costs.

The worker also lauded the DIA’s board and administration for themuseum’s growing endowment, as well as the stable operations budget secured through the Tri-County millage (in which 0.2% property taxes from Macomb, Wayne, and Oakland counties go toward funding the museum) in 2012 and again 2021, but noted that “in a financially secure institution, there’s no reason that that full-time employees should be working a second job.”

“ I do think that people at the ‘top’ ought to be compensated well for those efforts, but the people at the ‘bottom’ are also very important and all deserve to be getting a living wage,” Burger continued. She pointed out that the lowest wage at the museum is $16.50 an hour; the museum is currently advertising roles in visitor experience, security, and retail sales at this rate.

DIA has not yet replied to Hyperallergic‘s request for comment.

Burger also alleged that DIA has left certain positions vacant for over a year, and had employees in subordinate roles assume the responsibilities of said positions without providing them with title changes, promotions, or increases in compensation.

“We don’t want this to be an ‘us versus them’ situation,” Burger said of DIA Workers United’s relationship with the museum, alluding to how the Los Angeles County Museum of Art recently declined to recognize its staff’s union this week.

“ We want to work with [the museum], we want to negotiate. I think we’ll be able to strike a balance with the administration and truly have a partnership,” Burger explained. “I think that’s exciting, because if your employees are thriving, then the museum is really going to be thriving.”

Rhea Nayyar (she/her) is a New York City-based staff reporter at Hyperallergic. She received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and has a passion for small-scale artworks, elevating minority perspectives,... More by Rhea Nayyar