Public Employee Press

At zoos, gardens and museums
Fiscal crunch hits workers

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Economic hard times are hitting the city’s cultural institutions—and workers are paying the price.

Layoffs, temporary closings, furloughs, severance offers, salary reductions and early-retirement packages are among the steps taken by the museums, zoos and botanical gardens as they get walloped by the economic crisis, which has resulted in budget cuts, huge endowment losses and a drop in corporate donations.

So far, union protection has staved off massive layoffs of DC 37 members. But with budget cuts looming, members feel uncertainty permeating their workplaces.
“You’ve got real problems here,” said Local 1559 President Peter Vreeland, describing the atmosphere at American Museum of Natural History, where layoffs hit members in January.

“It’s scary,” said Wildlife Conservation Society Local 1501 member Doug Morea, a Keeper with 10 years on the job, who works at the Bronx Zoo’s Jungle World.

“God forbid that I would lose my job. My wife and I own a house and we have two children. My mother is ill and I’m taking care of her.”

In late March, as PEP went to press, Bronx Zoo workers were waiting to hear how many employees signed up for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s voluntary separation offer. The number of workers who opt to retire will determine how many of 120 possible layoffs will be averted. The WCS is also offering the voluntary separation package at the New York Aquarium and the Queens, Central Park and Prospect Park zoos.

Wild Animal Keeper Angela Cowan took a severance package since, with only six months on the job, she figured her layoff was inevitable. On the positive side, the threat of layoffs has encouraged a sense of solidarity. Carpenter Tommy Reilly, a 22-year veteran of the zoo, decided to accelerate his retirement in part because his decision would mean one less layoff.

Since late last year, DC 37 has worked closely with leaders of the locals at the cultural institutions to protect members’ jobs and find the least painful ways to address the budget troubles.

“Our members are being called upon to make sacrifices, but we are doing our best to protect their jobs and to minimize the sting of the financial crisis faced by the cultural institutions,” said Michael Riggio, director of the DC 37 White Collar Division. “Through meetings with members and negotiations with management that have for the most part been constructive, we have tried to come up with creative, workable solutions to the immediate budget problems.”

Across the city, about 10 DC 37 members have lost their jobs in the cultural institutions because of the budget crisis.

“I’m searching for a job and collecting unemployment,” said Jake Adams, who after eight years was laid off from his job as a Preparator at the Museum of Natural History. “But I am an optimist,” said Adams, who worked on the beautiful dioramas the museum is known for. “I’m an artist and there are a lot of opportunities in New York City,” he said, adding that he would jump at the chance to return to the job he loved.

The layoffs have hit nonunion staff far worse than workers represented by DC 37. In the late January slaughter at the museum, 53 employees were laid off. Eleven were members of Local 1559, but DC 37 has helped seven of them to be rehired or interview for new positions.

In March, the Metropolitan Museum handed out pink slips to 74 nonunion workers, including 11 probationary employees who would have become DC 37 members after completing training for security jobs.

Working with management, the union made agreements at several institutions. Those included:

• A two-week closing at Queens Botanical Garden during the Christmas and New Year’s weeks and 10 furloughs on Mondays from Jan. 12 to March 16.
• A furlough each month over a five-month period and two layoffs at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
• 10 Monday furloughs at the Wave Hill Garden and Cultural Center.

Alternatives to layoffs
The union is discussing alternatives to layoffs with management at the Staten Island Museum. At the Staten Island Historical Society, two layoffs occurred at the end of the year. The union has asked state Sen. Diane Savino to help with negotiations concerning the Staten Island institutions.

“You are stopping the bleeding for now, but the wound could rupture in the future,” said Local 374 President Cuthbert Dickenson. Dickenson said he was frustrated and angry over the layoffs and the cost-saving steps at the cultural institutions, suggesting that they were the logical outcome of years of gutted budgets and a lack of support from Gracie Mansion.

“The mayor has this notion that the cultural institutions should be self-sustaining, but that’s unrealistic,” he said.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposed spending plan for next year calls for a 7 percent cut at the city’s cultural institutions. Worse yet, Gov. David Paterson’s budget blueprint would cancel state funding for 76 zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums throughout New York State.

Facing hiring freezes that require them to do more with less, the loss of income resulting from forced days off, benefit cuts and the specter of layoffs in the future, workers are struggling to deal with personal anxiety and fear for the future.

Noting that hundreds of thousands of people nationwide are losing their jobs every month, Erik O’Brien, a Local 1559 member, said, “This is really not the time to lose your job. You can’t even get a job at Duane Reade.”

The layoffs at the Museum of Natural History “made me sick to my stomach,” said Local 1559 Shop Steward Jack Cesareo, a Senior Principal Preparator. The gut-wrenching atmosphere there led him to seek counseling to calm his nerves, he said. “I thought I was going over the edge.”

Cesareo said he worried that the layoffs would compound a problem faced by the union in recent years: the growing use of temporary and at-will employees.

Many workers at the cultural ­institutions feel abandoned by their employers and resent being called upon to make sacrifices while the bosses don’t. “It’s not fair,” a Local 1501 member said.

At a meeting earlier this year at the Bronx Zoo, three workers confronted Steven Sanderson, the CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society, asking whether he would be taking a symbolic cut in his $900,000 compensation packet, which includes housing and a car allowance. Sanderson answered that the society’s board believes he is compensated appropriately, workers said.

Solidarity grows among workers
Looking to the future, said Local 1501 President Robert Herkommer, “We want a long-term plan. We don’t want to go through this every year.”

“Morale at the moment?” said Shop Steward Cesareo. “It has kind of bottomed out. You grin and bear it. Life goes on.

“This is a wake-up call for the union and the members. We have to be more vocal,” he added.

For Local 1559 Vice President Craig Chesek, the growing unity of workers that is emerging is the silver lining of the budget crisis. “We are doing a lot more than normally,” said Chesek, who was encouraged by the turnout of local members at the massive March 5 demonstration against the budget cuts. “People are getting more active. It makes a difference when you see a co-worker laid-off.”