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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by June Le, Public Programs Producer at Brooklyn Museum and Secretary of DC37 Local 1502
1:12:01
ยท
3 min
June Le, a public programs producer at the Brooklyn Museum and secretary of DC37 Local 1502, testifies about the recent layoffs at the museum and their impact on workers. She expresses concern about the museum's financial management and calls for action from city officials to address the situation.
- Le criticizes the museum's decision to lay off workers, stating it violates union contracts and undermines the institution's values.
- She highlights the already understaffed condition of the museum and the potential risks to both workers and artworks due to these layoffs.
- Le calls for a halt to union worker layoffs, requests an audit of the museum's finances, and asks for city council intervention to prevent the layoffs.
June Le
1:12:01
Let's go.
1:12:02
Good morning.
1:12:04
First, I wanted to give my thanks to chair De La Rosa and fellow committee members.
1:12:10
Thank you so much for your service, for exemplifying clear and true leadership for the people of New York.
1:12:16
It is no small feat as we know.
1:12:18
My name is June Le.
1:12:20
I am a born and raised New Yorker, a part time CUNY student, and a full time public programs producer at the Brooklyn Museum.
1:12:28
For the past three years, I've served as the secretary of DC thirty seven Local fifteen oh two.
1:12:33
So I speak to you today as an elected representative of nearly 200 cultural workers in Brooklyn.
1:12:39
I started working at the Brooklyn Museum as an intern in 02/2015, and I've spent a decade believing in the mission of a democratic arts institution that brings culture, learning, joy, and jobs to the borough of Brooklyn.
1:12:55
Three Weeks ago, when management abruptly laid off nonunion workers and announced a plan to lay off union workers in violation of our contract, myself and my colleagues were shocked and saddened for the place we love had eschewed its long time values for a Doge esque consolidation of power.
1:13:15
Last year, the museum told us our financial budget deficit was strategic.
1:13:21
Today, it is balancing its budget on the backs of workers who lose their benefits, salaries, pensions, and union membership.
1:13:30
I thought our civic institutions were supposed to support democracy and not repress it.
1:13:37
As many have noted from the comptroller reports, the creative economy of the city generates a hundred and $10,000,000,000 of economic activity.
1:13:45
Despite this, cultural workers are underpaid, our skills exploited and devalued because artwork is seen as a passion project before it is seen as real work.
1:13:56
At the Brooklyn Museum, as Henry said, we are already understaffed with workers clocking in significant overtime during evenings and weekends, risking injury to themselves as well as works of art just to get the shows up on time and make the magic happen.
1:14:12
The museum's decision to conduct layoffs when we already function with such a lean staff shows an egregious error in judgment that will have lasting consequences for the future of the museum, its historic collection, and the entire cultural economy of New York City.
1:14:29
I just want to point out that no one from museums management is here right now.
1:14:35
The museum should be here today to ask for city council to fund the gap in the budget but they are not.
1:14:42
We are here and they are the ones who have created the fiscal crisis not the city and not the workers.
1:14:49
The museum is not giving the union precise information but based off the data that we do have we believe the museum needs 3 to $4,000,000 to prevent these layoffs.
1:15:00
We are asking for management at the museum to completely halt the layoff of our union workers.
1:15:06
Further, we asked the comptroller's office to conduct an audit to understand how the museum's management led to the point of a $10,000,000 deficit and these layoffs.
1:15:18
Lastly, I asked city council and members of the public to urge the museum to follow our union contract and contribute to furthering democracy, not injuring it.
1:15:28
Council members, thank you for your time.
Carmen N. De La Rosa
1:15:29
Thank you so much.