Union workers employed by StoryCorps, a nonprofit oral history organization, picketed on Thursday outside their employer's annual gala at Brooklyn Museum.
For nearly 10 months, workers have been bargaining for provisions in their union contracts, including a seniority-based layoff process, a fair disciplinary process and industry-standard wages and benefits for producers and video editors.
According to Micaela Camacho-Tenreiro, bilingual facilitator and union organizer for StoryCorps — a Brooklyn-based organization — fewer than half of employees make living wages for where they live geographically.
“StoryCorps, as an institution that wants to instill narrative change, needs to know that narrative change starts from within,” Camacho-Tenreiro told BK Reader. “So we’re asking management, ‘What story do you want to tell and have you told about how you treat your workers?’”
In 2025, Congress passed a rescissions package that effectively defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including significant funding for StoryCorps. However, Tomas Laster, a staff representative at Communications Workers of America Local 1180, said that federal budget cuts are not the full story.
“This has been going on for much longer than that,” Laster said, adding that financial changes to the organization have been responded to with measures that have disproportionately affected union workers, as the proportion of union workers to management has "shrunk significantly."
According to a social media post from the union, StoryCorps spent more than $300,000 their lawyer. “They spent more in one year on an attorney than the cost of health care for the entire bargaining unit,” Laster said.
A press release from The Advance Group reported that the gala had tickets running as high as $100,000.
On Sept. 18, the CWA Union filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge with the National Labor Relations Board against StoryCorps, alleging that the organization violated section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to properly bargain collectively.
“These are people who are out here listening to the voices of people across America saying, you know, honor them and respect them,” said Jey Born, a former six-year employee of StoryCorps and a union shop steward. “An employer should be able to do the same for their staff.”
Laster told BK Reader that after picketing, the union heard that StoryCorps CEO Sandra Clark acknowledged the demonstrations outside the museum during the gala.
In response to request for comment, a spokesperson from StoryCorps issued the following statement to BK Reader:
“StoryCorps respects its union-represented employees and their right to express their views. The organization values the contributions of its staff and remains committed to the collective bargaining process. Negotiations are ongoing, and the parties have made meaningful progress, though important differences remain. StoryCorps' goal is to reach a fair and sustainable agreement that supports its employees while ensuring the organization can continue fulfilling its mission for years to come.”
If management continues not to agree to the union’s demands, Laster said, the union plans to go back to the bargaining table.
