The Maryland Institute College of the Arts (MICA) in Baltimore, one of the leading art schools in the United States, has announced layoffs just weeks after its employees joined a union.
The news comes nearly two months after employees working in various departments voted 86 to 17 to join the SEIU Local 500 on May 24. Employees learned of the cuts just two days after representatives of the newly formed union petitioned the school administration to enter into negotiations before making changes to the employee’s working conditions, Artforum I mentioned on Thursday.
The restructuring move is preparing to cut about 10 percent of the union’s bargaining unit, the group of workers who conduct job negotiations, ahead of contract talks. A total of 24 jobs will be affected by layoffs. The ad was published in an email sent to employees and reviewed by them Artforum. In the internal letter, management said it expects “about half” of the 24 positions due to be removed will affect union employees.
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SEIU Local represents employees of public school universities and nonprofit organizations in Maryland and Washington, DC. Staff including staff at Goucher College, Howard University and Planned Parenthood.
“We have agreed to bargain with Local 500 about how the restructuring will affect those jobs and about the details of the termination package that will be offered to employees represented in those positions,” the email read.
Workers representing the MICA employee union filed a formal petition with school head Samuel Howe on June 27 asking management to refrain from making changes to working conditions prior to the union’s inaugural contract negotiations.
said Sian Evans, a SEIU representative who works as a librarian at MICA Artforum That no member of the administration responded to the petition (Howe’s office did not acknowledge receipt of the petition).
MICA reduced costs and reported reduced enrollment as a result of the pandemic. In 2020, it suspended employee benefit matches and cut CEO pay by 10-15 percent.
Evans described the move as “harmful” to MICA students. She said an initial meeting with union representatives to discuss the layoffs with management was held on July 7 and a second meeting on July 15.
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