Staff at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria have voted to join the same union that represents employees at the Greater Victoria Public Library.
CUPE 410 announced Thursday that 37 gallery workers voted Nov. 30 to join the local.
The union said the workers perform a range of duties, from exhibit design to managing the Gallery Shop and providing marketing, accounting, security and custodial services.
Zoe Magnus, a CUPE organizing representative, said the union hopes to move quickly to get a contract in place. She said the local was considered a “good fit” given its experience representing librarians, clerks, supervisors, IT specialists and others at the Greater Victoria Public Library.
Jon Tupper, director of the art gallery, said the certification is unlikely to have a major impact on the art gallery.
“It’s really not that big of a deal,” he said. “We have great staff and we are really looking forward to working with them.
“I mean, we’re not the only ones that are dealing with unions … and I don’t find it very difficult, having worked with unions before in different institutions that I’ve worked with across Canada.”
