Last week, the California Academy of Sciences announced that it was laying off 53 workers. That hasn’t stopped many of them from coming into work, though.
The holdouts are members of CalAcademy Workers United — several hundred scientists, educators and floor staff at the museum who overwhelmingly voted in favor of unionizing in 2023. The union’s leaders say that the museum’s highest-salaried administrators — among them Executive Director Scott Sampson (who made $885,000 last year) and CFO Matthew Lau ($257,000) — ought to take a pay cut.
Also, says union president Teddy Vollman, at least some of these layoffs appear to be in violation of the union contract that museum management signed after significant pushback against the unionization effort. Among other things, the contract has strict restrictions on outsourcing work.
“We hope to save as many jobs as we can,” said Vollman, who has personally been laid off from two positions, as both museum guide and public programs presenter. Negotiations over the layoffs between the union and management began today.
Those slated for layoffs — 38 positions, held by 37 people — include the museum’s entire planetarium team, and the content developer team, which collaborated with several indigenous communities in California on the award-winning California: State of Nature exhibit.
Though the Academy’s official announcement of the layoffs last Tuesday stated “We will begin implementing these reductions immediately,” the decision legally requires a 60-day “notice of intent to lay off” before management can begin to cut positions. Cal Academy is contractually obligated to engage the union in negotiations.
The Academy did not directly respond to questions about the finality of the layoffs, and directed Mission Local to the press release, which says “Reducing staff is always a last resort.”
Still, negotiations will proceed. Vollman has meanwhile been encouraging laid-off union members to keep coming into work. They estimate that roughly half of the 37 union members facing layoffs have continued working.
Kelley Prebil, who is currently the museum’s sole database administrator, was working from home last Tuesday when she received an invitation to an in-person meeting entitled “org changes.”
“When I saw that, I was just like, oh, God, this is not good,” Prebil said.
A maelstrom of confusion followed as Prebil struggled to make sense of conflicting narratives from management, union leaders, and an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, which broke the story of the layoffs to many workers in advance of the Academy’s own administration, but without comment from the union.
Nevertheless, Prebil kept showing up for work.
“I have been reporting to work because I take pride in and care about my work and the service that I provide to my coworkers,” Prebil said. “Being the only database administrator, I’m heavily relied on by all of my coworkers.”
Working under these new tensions hasn’t changed Prebil’s job much, she said.
“I receive my work directly from my coworkers, not through management.”
The office the day that layoffs were announced was, workers said, a bit of a zoo. Extra security guards roamed the premises. Workers huddled and cried in the hallways. In at least one case, a manager learned directly from a worker that the worker was being laid off, rather than the other way around.
Community engagement specialist Zuhair Hussain described watching a meeting with senior leaders the day of the layoffs, which was being livestreamed on the union’s Instagram page. When workers began asking questions, “The answers that they gave us were not real complete answers,” Hussain said of management. “They always kind of diverted away from the question.”
Hussain only remembers one definitive answer to one question — “Will you be receiving a pay cut?”
“Matthew [Lau] responded, ‘No.’” Hussain recalled.
Some took their leave anyway after the chaos of last week, and decided not to fight their layoff notices.
“If a worker wishes to leave, that is their prerogative. We support them wholeheartedly in that decision,” Vollman said. “But we have, at a minimum, 60 days before these layoffs can take effect, where we will be bargaining with the Academy executives.” This is the museum’s third round of layoffs in five years.
Vollman is on the layoff list for the second time since the last round.
“I think it’s important to show management that we are dedicated to our positions and to the mission of the institution,” said Marie Angel, curatorial assistant and union chapter secretary.
Angel, too, is on the layoff list.
Electronics engineer Victoria Langlands has worked on and off at the museum for 10 years. Langlands noted that half of the union’s eight “bargaining team members” — including Vollman and Angel — were on the layoff list.
“It reeks of retaliation to me,” she said. Langlands was not laid off this time around, but had been in the first round in 2021, before landing a similar position back at the Academy sometime later.
“Morale is dismal up and down the chain,” Langlands said. “People are kind of stumbling through their work. Like, what are my priorities? What are the institution’s priorities?”
“I fully believe we can claw back a good chunk of these jobs, but I guess only time will tell.”
“They can’t keep cutting forever,” said Vollman. “Otherwise, the Academy will cease to exist.”
800k+ for the figurehead and layoffs for those who actually work? Fucking gross! Eww! What does this ED guy do all day to deserve so much money?
Kelley Prebil said it perfectly: “ “I receive my work directly from my coworkers, not through management.” can any of you relate?
Thank you for writing a real article about this and for calling out the Chronicle for lazy journalism. What’s happening at the academy is straight up corrupt and unethical.