Meow Wolf may unionize amid pandemic turmoil
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Workers at a popular immersive arts entertainment project were voting Monday on whether to unionize under the Communications Workers of America umbrella, amid economic uncertainty linked to COVID-19.
Born of a rag-tag arts collective, Meow Wolf coined a new brand of family entertainment with its “House of Eternal Return” exhibition in Santa Fe — currently idled by a pandemic health order — that has doubled as an educational workshop for children and nightlife music venue. The central exhibit provides eye-popping psychedelic design work in a walk- and crawl-through exhibit of spiral stairs and unmarked passageways, organized loosely around a riddle involving an abandoned Victorian home.
Meow Wolf has about 270 employees after laying off just over 200 workers in April amid aggressive state restrictions on businesses and furloughing more, even as it forges ahead with efforts to open venues in Las Vegas in early 2021 and Denver later next year. New Mexico still bans public gatherings of more than five people and places other restrictions at nonessential businesses.
Michael Wilson, a senior story editor and member of a preliminary collective bargaining group, said workers are conscious of pandemic-related economic challenges and want a stronger say on concerns ranging from racial and ethnic diversity in hiring to benefits packages and employee training.
Read more: https://theeagle.com/entertainment/meow-wolf-may-unionize-amid-pandemic-turmoil/article_455c5a32-68d5-5ff3-9b1f-b962bdcb92be.html
(Bryan-Cikkege Station The Eagle)