‘Feels like they’re starving us out,’ AGO workers say
One month into their strike, gallery employees are feeling the pinch as they try to stay strong
One month after workers at the Art Gallery of Ontario walked off the job for the first time, hundreds of employees were still searching for a deal that would allow the city’s largest art gallery to reopen, as bargaining resumed Wednesday.
More than 430 workers headed to the picket lines four weeks ago, after almost a year of bargaining between management and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 535. Although some were ready to weather the storm, others are struggling to make ends meet in an expensive city.
Claire Molgat Laurin had to sell her car to get some money on hand for food, even after dipping into her savings to make rent. The full-time conservator didn’t think the strike would last this long.
“Even before the strike, more than half my income was going toward my rent,” said the 35-year-old, who pays about $2,100 for her one-bedroom apartment.
“I’m 100 per cent behind our bargaining unit. I want to be able to to say that we got something out of this entire ordeal,” she said.
According to Local 535, the average part-time worker makes about $34,380 a year (at the AGO, more than 60 per cent of staff are parttime); the average full-timer makes $48,400. Their wage increases were capped at one per cent for three years.
The AGO’s last offer to employees included retroactive lump-sum pay boosts of one per cent for 12 months after December 2021; 3.15 per cent after December 2022; and 3.25 per cent after December 2023. That rate would continue until Dec. 1, 2024, after which wages would rise by 3.5 per cent for the next year, when a new contract would expire.
According to documents shared with the Star last month, there was no mention that the gallery would stop outsourcing work the union believes should be given to longterm, loyal staff for reasonable pay.
“The museum remains ready to negotiate and fully available to work constructively with employee representatives to reach a reasonable and fair agreement,” said Laura Quinn, the AGO’s communications director, in a written statement.
The union gave workers $250 per week in the first two weeks of the strike. That rose to $350 after the third week, but some say it’s barely enough and, in a city like Toronto that’s growing increasingly unaffordable, it seems like management is waiting them out.
Mark Thornberry, a full-time event setup co-ordinator who’s also part of the bargaining committee, said it feels like “they’re trying to starve us out.”
According to Thornberry, negotiations seemed to be moving in the right direction on April 17. However, they couldn’t reach a mutual agreement. Both parties were expected to return to the bargaining table Wednesday.
Kieran Grant, 51, a full-time AGO editor in the publications department, said he tries, unsuccessfully at times, not to skip meals.
Although he was able to pay off some bills with his last paycheque, Grant says he’s worried about rent as he enters May. He’s considering accepting a loan from his 23-yearold daughter, who is a nurse.
“I cannot afford my rent. I mostly live paycheque to paycheque,” he said. “I don’t have savings. I’ll have to be selective about which forthcoming bills I pay on time.”
For 39-year-old Meaghan Monaghan, a full-time painting conservator and single mom, daycare for her 17-month-old son is eating up almost half of her strike pay.
“I pay $27 a day for daycare,” Monaghan said, noting she used most of her savings while on maternity leave, which she returned from in January.
Although donations from other OPSEU locals and the arts community have helped Monaghan cover some groceries, she had to add more to her line of credit to cover her monthly $1,700 mortgage payments.
“Defaulting on a mortgage is not something I want to do … It depends how much longer this goes on,” she said.