Forming a Museum Labor Union: The Case of PASTA MoMA

PRE-RELEASED VERSION

Amanda Tobin Ripley

Amanda Tobin Ripley is a doctoral candidate in Arts Administration, Education, and Policy at The Ohio State University, where she researches the art museum labor movement. Amanda holds an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from Oberlin College.

ABSTRACT
This case study profiles the origins of the Professional and Administrative Staff Association of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, affectionately known as “PASTA MoMA.” Established in 1971, PASTA was the first labor union of art museum professionals in the United States. Its early history reveals strong parallels to the present-day museum labor movement, both in terms of its grievances and goals, and illuminates connections to and offers critical lessons for contemporary museum workers organizing within a longstanding tradition of social activism in the creative sector. The accompanying Teaching Notes offer entry points for courses into discussions of contemporary labor organizing in the museum sector, practices of institutional critique, social class formation, and interconnected social justice movements.

KEYWORDS
Museums; labor unions; social movements; workplace democracy; institutional critique