Eric Carle Museum workers file for a union election

Staff at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, petitioned for a union election on Monday, seeking to organize 36 workers with the United Auto Workers.

The representation petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board covers all full-time and regular part-time workers while excluding supervisors and managers, documents show. The case is assigned to the board’s Region 01 in Boston and remains open, with the signed petition listed as its only docket entry.

The workers are organizing with the Technical, Office and Professional Union, Local 2110 UAW, AFL-CIO, documents show. Dana Lossia of the New York firm Levy Ratner is listed as the petitioner’s legal representative.

The staff announced the drive the same day on Instagram, describing a bargaining unit that spans Guest Services, Education, Collections, Marketing, Development and the Shop.

“The Eric Carle Museum staff are unionizing to gain a collective voice and create a just workplace across all departments of the Museum,” the union wrote.

“We are organizing for a more equitable and democratic workplace for all of us,” the announcement said. “We want the legal right to bargain a contract to protect our jobs, improve our salaries and benefits, and support all of our co-workers.”

The workers also pressed management not to contest the election or narrow who is eligible to vote.

“We call upon Museum leadership not to interfere with or delay a union vote and to agree to an inclusive voter eligibility list that will allow the maximum number of staff the democratic right to vote without challenge,” they wrote.

The campaign follows staff complaints about short-staffing, few chances for advancement and poor working conditions, Hyperallergic reported.

The museum reported a surplus of about $1.2 million on its most recent tax return, reviewed by Urgent Matter, for the year ending June 30, 2025. Total assets were listed at $20.9 million, and an investment endowment grew to $12.5 million from $10.5 million a year earlier, records show.

Executive Director Jennifer Schantz drew $267,016 in reportable compensation that year, plus $53,225 in other pay.

Four other employees earned over $100,000: development director Rebecca Goggins and finance and administration director Andrea Powers at $153,443 each, chief curator Ellen Keiter at $126,415, and education director Courtney Waring at $125,361.

The museum spent $3.1 million on salaries, benefits and other compensation and reported 58 people employed during 2024, records show.

Schantz became executive director in 2023, the year her predecessor, Alexandra Kennedy, stepped down, records show.

The museum was founded by the late Eric Carle and his wife, Barbara, and opened in November 2002. Carle created The Very Hungry Caterpillar and, with Bill Martin Jr., Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

The Amherst museum has hosted over a million visitors in the years since, Hyperallergic reported.

Follow along with other union matters at Urgent Matter’s labor tracker.