Building the Penn Museum our community needs, inside and out.
ELECTION CAMPAIGN
ELECTION SCHEDULE
Remember these key dates:
July 13: Ballots mailed to eligible PMWU voters
August 3: Completed ballots due to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
August 10: Votes counted
If more than 50% of votes cast are in favor of unionization, we win!
All eligible Penn Museum workers will receive their ballot at the mailing address on file for them at the Museum. Please complete and mail in your ballot as soon as possible. To make sure it arrives to the NLRB in time, mail your ballot by July 27.
If you do not receive a ballot by July 20 or you need a replacement ballot:
Contact the NLRB Region 04 Office at 215-597-7618 and provide your full legal name, your phone number, and your current mailing address. You must do this by 5 PM on July 20.
Email us at phillysphinx@gmail.com with the same information. We can send your information to the NLRB directly to create a paper trail for your request—you just need to call and leave a message first.
Want to know if you’re eligible to vote? Contact us at phillysphinx@gmail.com.
SECRET BALLOT
Vote is conducted by secret ballot. Voters will place their ballot inside two envelopes and sign the outermost one. The NLRB will discard the outer envelope upon receipt so the voter cannot be identified when the vote is counted. The envelope will be pre-addressed and doesn’t require postage; you don’t need to go buy stamps.
BALLOT QUESTIONS
All ballots will have this Yes/No question:
“Do you wish to be represented for purposes of collective bargaining by AFSCME DISTRICT COUNCIL 47?”
Some ballots will have an additional Yes/No question:
“Do you wish to be included with non-professional employees in a unit for the purposes of collective bargaining?”
We believe the answers to both these questions should be an enthusiastic YES!
TWO VOTING GROUPS
“Professionals” & “Non-Professionals”
There are two voting groups : “professional” and “non-professional” employees. This is a matter of labor law. When a single bargaining unit (like ours) contains both “professionals” and “non-professionals,” those categorized as “professionals” will see the additional question listed above.
The distinction between “professional” and “non-professional” employees is just a form of legal classification that examines a range of factors for each individual job—for example, jobs that require a specialized degree are typically categorized as “professional” by the NLRB. This categorization was put in place in the 1930s, and we don’t think it applies all that well to our workplace, but it’s required by law. At the end of the day, it just means that some of us will check YES twice instead of once.
Want to know which voting group you fall into? Contact us at phillysphinx@gmail.com.
BALLOT TIPS
When filling out your ballot, remember:
Only mark within the YES or NO box
Sign the outside envelope
Unsigned ballots or ballots with extraneous markings will be discarded and not counted.
Please complete and mail in your ballot as soon as possible.
PROVISIONAL BALLOTS
Some voters’ eligibility for the union is still being contested between the union and museum leadership. These voters will use provisional ballots, which will be counted separately and marked.
for some voters