Photo Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images for Art Saint Barth
Artist Daniel Arsham has been accused of violating national labor laws, including firing an employee in retaliation for their union activities, in a complaint filed Tuesday by a Brooklyn regional director of the National Labor Relations Board.
In November 2023, employees of the artist’s studio, officially called Daniel Arsham, Inc., voted to join Wholesale and Chain Store Food Employees Union, Local 338. According to the complaint, prior to the union election Arsham violated the National Labor Relations Act by requiring his employees to attend a meeting at his Long Island City headquarters “for the purpose of exposing employees to the employer’s statements in opposition to the union,” according to a spokesperson for the National Labor Relations Board.
The complaint also alleges that a labor consultant threatened a stricter enforcement of policies if they were to vote in favor of unionization and said employees could be fired for violating those policies. The complaint cites one employee who was purportedly disciplined and fired in retaliation for their union support.
The complaint was filed by NLRB’s Region 29-Brooklyn’s Regional Director after the agency found the allegations credible following an investigation. The Regional Director’s office will first seek a settlement between the studio and its employees that includes the following actions from Arsham: a meeting in which Arsham reads a notice of employee rights to the staff, which will then be posted and electronically distributed; a mandatory training with a NLRB’s Region 29 for all managers on employee rights as detailed in the National Labor Relations Act; and compensation to the “unlawfully” terminated employee for lost wages and benefits. In addition, Arsham is asked to send the employee a letter of apology.
If a settlement cannot be reached, there will be a hearing with the NLRB Administrative Law Judge on October 15 in Brooklyn.
ARTnews has contacted Arsham’s studio for comment.