CHILDREN’S MUSEUM REACHES UNION PACT
It plans to reopen in May under collective bargaining accord
Two months into the pandemic the New Children’s Museum laid off dozens of employees who had recently unionized, saying the closure was necessitated by the novel coronavirus.
Workers complained that the mass termination was retaliation for voting to form a union, in part because the layoffs were announced two days after a bargaining session.
But on Monday, the charity and union officials announced the first collective bargaining agreement between the New Children’s Museum and its longtime staff, after more than one year of negotiations.
“This contract demonstrates the power of union workers at the bargaining table,” said Nate Fairman, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 465, which represents the museum workers.
“Our members were able to negotiate immediate increases in pay, along with annual pay raises, sustained health care and opportunities for more input on the job,” he said. “Workers are at the heart of the museum and deserve the respect that a fair contract brings.”
The union organizing effort was among the first for nonprofit museums in San Diego and was being closely watched by other local charities.
Bargaining negotiations had begun just before the pandemic hit early last year.
When the institution was closed to prevent the spread of the virus, New Children’s Museum executives laid off dozens of employees via email.
In a statement released this week, the museum said it welcomed the new union.
“The museum’s largest annual investment is in our people,” said Interim Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Reed Vickerman. “Our employees are creative and diligent and care deeply about our mission.
“We are proud to invest in our employees and acknowledge their contributions to the museum and San Diego’s children,” Vickerman added.
The Children’s Museum had served the community has the day off.
Vargas, president and CEO of Father Joe’s Villages, said now that adult men have moved from the convention center and into the ground floor of Golden Hall, families with young children have begun moving into the upper floor.
Unlike the convention center, which had hundreds of cots in a single cavernous room, the Golden Hall shelter has bunk beds in smaller quarters. The ground floor has beds for 324 men while several upstairs rooms have bunk beds to accommodate 202 people, including parents, children and transition-age youths 18-24 years old. The upper floor also has 10 cribs for babies. The shelter does not have accommodations for single women.
Vargas said Father Joe’s Villages is going through a waiting list of families who will be moving into the upper floor in coming days. The list includes families who have been couch surfing at other people’s homes and renting hotel rooms with their own money, he said.
Golden Hall had hosted a shelter for Father Joe’s Villages clients from April 2019 to March 2020, when clients were moved to the convention center over fears that the coronavirus could spread in the smaller venue.
Children were not accepted at the convention center, and families who had been living at Golden Hall were moved to motel rooms provided by the city. The city and San Diego Housing Commission since then have provided shelter and services to families on a case-bycase basis, and last year the city opened a shelter for families in a transformed motel on Palm Avenue in South Bay that eventually will serve as part of the Misdemeanants At-Risk Track Program.
While COVID-19 cases in the county have declined, the city still is taking precautions in moving people back to Golden Hall. Beds are spread farther apart than before, and the capacity upstairs has decreased by 86 people, a 30 percent reduction from what it originally held. With 324 beds added to the ground floor, however, the shelter has gained about 200 beds from its pre-COVID days.
The shelter could add more beds once the pandemic
is over, and Gloria urged San Diegans to do their part to make that happen.
“Please continue to wear a mask, maintain social distancing and get vaccinated when it’s your turn,” he said during a small news conference at Golden Hall. “Not only are you preserving your health and the health of your loved ones, but you’re helping us get this pandemic behind us so we can bring these shelters to full capacity and get more people off the street.”
Gloria also urged people who are on the street but reluctant to go into shelters to consider coming to Golden Hall, and he recalled the car crash near San Diego City College that killed three
homeless people two weeks ago as a reminder of the dangers of living outdoors.
“We know that living on the streets can be deadly,” he said. “We’ve seen that underlined only a few days ago in this city. To the extent that we have beds available, I hope folks will take advantage of the opportunity to get off the street. I know it’s difficult. I admire the courage of the individuals who accepted help and gotten off the street and are living right here right now.”
Teak Hawksford, 32, is among the people who accepted help. He had moved into the convention center in January and moved into Golden Hall last Wednesday.
“Sleeping on the streets is a lot tougher,” he said.
Hawksford said has worked as an emergency medical technician but is on disability and can’t get a job. Hanging out on his top bunk Tuesday morning, he showed the artwork he has created in a sketchbook to pass the time and said he made friends with others at the convention center. He especially enjoyed playing with their dogs, which also have made the trip to Golden Hall.
Hawksford said he hopes to move out after he finds a place to share with some friends.
Gloria and Vargas stressed that the shelter is a temporary answer to getting people off the street, not a solution to homelessness.
“What we have here at Golden Hall is an opportunity for unsheltered individuals to get off the street, to get the services they need to get connected to housing and to stay housed permanently,” Gloria said.
“This is a place where they’ll call home for a period of time,” Vargas said, adding that people at the shelter will be able to be connected to substance abuse treatment and to job training to help them become self-sufficient. Children staying at the shelter also will be served by Father Joe’s Villages’ therapeutic child center, Vargas said.
Golden Hall opened in 1964 and has been used for conventions, including the San Diego Comic-Con, and hosted concerts by the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, the Clash and other performers. During the 1973–74 American Basketball Association season, it also was home to the San Diego Conquistadors.
It has not been as active in recent years, but each January hosts Project Homeless Connect, with allows hundreds of people to meet with representatives from dozens of organizations that can help them with a variety of issues.
The annual cost of the shelter on the second floor of Golden Hall is budgeted at $4.7 million and the cost of operating the shelter on the first floor is budgeted at $3.4 million over nine months. The budget for the lower floor is over a shorter period because it is a newer allocation than the top floor, and the two will be aligned in nine months.
The city also has budgeted $2.8 million to operate the Alpha Project’s tented shelter on Imperial Avenue and $6.4 million to operate the Alpha Projects Newton Avenue shelter over the next year.