Labor board defers charge that The Met fired a worker over union activity

Federal labor regulators deferred an unfair labor practice charge to arbitration that accused the Metropolitan Museum of Art of suspending and firing a worker for union activity, rather than ruling on it.

The National Labor Relations Board’s Region 10 in Atlanta deferred the charge on August 10 under the board’s Dubo policy, records released to Urgent Matter under the Freedom of Information Act show.

Under a Dubo deferral, the agency holds off on a final ruling while a related grievance moves through the grievance-and-arbitration process set out in a union contract.

The four-page deferral letter, signed by Regional Director Matthew J. Turner, defers a charge alleging that the museum “unlawfully suspended and discharged the Charging Party in retaliation for” union activities. The worker’s name and other identifying details were redacted.

Paid subscribers can read the documents used in this reporting.

FOIA Documents: NLRB defers discipline charge against the Met

The NLRB’s Dubo deferral letter and FOIA response in the Metropolitan Museum of Art unfair labor practice case.

Urgent MatterAdam Schrader

The charge was filed on November 18, 2025, a day after Met workers petitioned for a union election and weeks before they voted in January to join Technical, Office and Professional Union, Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers, as Urgent Matter previously reported.

Turner wrote that he found “sufficient commonality” between the charge and a pending grievance, and “a reasonable chance” the grievance process would resolve the underlying dispute.

The letter said there is no right to appeal a Dubo deferral. It requires the charging party to file status reports on the grievance by March 15 and September 15 and warns that failing to do so “may result in the case being dismissed based on the Charging Party’s lack of cooperation.”

The region will revoke the deferral and resume the charge if the grievance is withdrawn without a settlement, or if the museum “prevents or impedes” resolution of the grievance, raises a timeliness defense or otherwise refuses to address its merits, the letter said.

The Met charge was among roughly 397 New York cases the Board moved to other regions this spring under a case-reallocation program, Urgent Matter previously reported.

The letter does not name the union or contract under which the grievance was filed.

The museum is separately fighting the union over who belongs in the new bargaining unit. It challenged the eligibility of about 100 workers at the January election, and the union accused it in August of “stalling tactics in arbitration proceedings,” Urgent Matter reported.

Urgent Matter is reader-supported. Please consider subscribing to support independent arts journalism.