Los Angeles labor organizers have filed a complaint against the Marciano Art Foundation after the museum abruptly closed last week. The museum had previously laid off all its visitor services staff—some 70 people—just days after employees announced plans to unionize. The museum cited low attendance as the reason for its closure.
Marciano Art Foundation Union organizers, who were attempting to join the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, filed the complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the museum of illegal union busting practices in retaliation for the efforts to unionize.
The foundation “has illegally discriminated against its employees by laying off employees en masse and/or closing its facility,” the complaint says, as reported by the New York Times. Federal law prohibits the suspension or firing of workers who engage in union activity.
