After three-and-a-half years as the Walker Art Center volunteer coordinator, former Walker Worker Union president Michelle Maser said she only got 10 minutes to clean out her desk.

Maser was elected to the president position three times before she was laid off last week, not long after former Union secretary Gabriela Bruner had been laid off. 

“I may have lost my job, but I have not lost my resolve to fight for justice,” Maser said to the crowd gathered in front of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden during Thursday’s rally.

Over a hundred union and community members rallied for Maser and Bruner’s reinstatement, their bright green union colors contrasting the gloomy April sky.

People gathered around the entrance to the world-famous sculpture garden at the busy intersection of Hennepin Avenue and Vineland Place, chants of “union busting is disgusting” and “the workers united will never be defeated” ringing out over cars honking their support.

Maser and Bruner said their firings were the Walker’s latest move towards breaking up the union, which is represented by AFSCME Council 5. The current contract between the Walker and the Union expires next January, according to Maser.

The Walker said in a statement made to the Minnesota Daily that it “remains in full compliance” with its collective bargaining agreement and attributed “the creation and elimination of a small number of roles both union and non-union” to restructuring of its Visitor & Gallery Experience teams that began last fall.

“They’ve moved the volunteer work out of the bargaining unit and into the hands of managers outside of the Union,” Maser said in response. “I believe that proves that they did need me.”

A bargaining unit is a group of employees represented by a single labor union in collective bargaining, according to Cornell Law School.

Maser added that three former teammates whom she worked with in the box office were also pushed out, and those three workers were Union members.

According to the Union, 50% of its bargaining unit has been pushed out in the past year due to layoffs and cuts to hours.

Several union members spoke out last year against Walker policy requiring gallery attendants to stand at all times during their shifts. Chairs were a prominent theme at Thursday’s rally, with one protester holding a sign reading “Sitting doesn’t prevent me from doing my job, it helps me do it.”

Chants of “the people here deserve a seat” felt relevant and pointed.

Speakers also criticized the Walker for hypocrisy, saying that its actions against workers directly opposed its stated values.

“The Walker is more than just galleries filled with art. It’s a community of workers, patrons and neighbors who believe in the importance of art, education and inclusion,” Bruner said to the crowd. “The actions of the Walker have shown that those in leadership don’t share these values and that they prop up a false facade of being a progressive institution.”

Looming behind Bruner was a large-scale puppet shrouded in black with ghoulish gray hands and a black money bag for a head. The protest leaders referred to it as “management.”

“We all love the Walker and its art and we love our community there, but they don’t deserve your financial support right now unless they’re going to treat their workers better,” Bruner said in an interview.

Natalie Naranjo, an organizer for UFCW Local 663 and former Science Museum of Minnesota employee, spoke at the rally.

“Union busting in cultural institutions is its own flavor of disgusting,” Naranjo said. “(Museums) love to talk about how they’re a part of their communities. But what I really wanna know from museum workers, who makes the museum a part of their communities?”

“We do!” the crowd shouted in response.

Despite the bleak situation, protestors brought fun to their tactics. People jammed with a trombone, drum, tambourine, cowbells and rhythm sticks. Another person brought a chair puppet calling for the right of workers to sit.

Many of Maser and Bruner’s former co-workers, some joining the rally on their breaks, came up to greet and hug the two of them. Maser herself started tearing up during her speech, which was met with shouts of encouragement from the crowd.

“I came today because my co-workers have been unjustly terminated,” said Aster Ryan, an usher at the Walker and Union vice president. “I need (Walker executive director) Mary Ceruti and other senior leadership that it’s not OK with the workers.”