Tacoma Art Museum workers ratify first contract

After more than three years of organizing, workers have secured a contract with significant wage and job quality improvements

TACOMA, WA (August 21, 2025) — After winning their union with the Washington Federation of Employees/AFSCME Council 28 in November of 2023, the workers at the Tacoma Art Museum have unanimously ratified their first union contract.

The contract secures economic and job quality provisions for the bargaining unit, including across-the-board raises of three percent in both 2025 and 2026 and a baseline starting wage of $20/hour for Visitor Services staff and $22/hour for Visitor Services leads. Additional two percent increases for every five years of service were secured, recognizing the commitment of staff with long tenures at the museum. Two Visitor Services staff positions will now move to full-time, with one of the positions securing a ‘lead’ title, and the negotiated starting wage of $22/hour. And when a holiday falls on a Thursday and the museum is closed, workers will now receive 10 hours of pay, regardless of whether they are full- or part-time.

Workers also won significant improvements to working conditions that will strengthen employer accountability. Clearly defined job descriptions will be updated and available to all employees. The contract secured grievance procedures, backed by union representatives. Yearly reviews of workload and growing job duties will also now be implemented.

Besides the notable economic and quality-of-life wins, their contract also makes history. Tacoma Art Museum Workers United (TAMWU) are the first to successfully organize an art museum in Washington state across all departments.

When the workers secured their union in 2023, Museum Institutional Giving Manager Eden Redmond said they fought for an inclusive union because workers were experiencing similar issues museum-wide.

“The issues that workers were facing permeated across departments,” said Redmond, “and they permeated across experience levels and tenure, and they permeated across different generations of leadership — and so we began looking to each other and saying, hey, we’ve got a systemic problem and we need a systemic solution.”

The workers that make up TAMWU join over 10,000 museum and cultural workers represented by AFSCME across the U.S., ensuring the workers who protect and preserve our history and art are themselves protected by a strong union contract.

The Washington Federation of State Employees represents over 50,000 state and other public service workers in Washington. Learn more at wfse.org.