PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The Philadelphia Museum of Art and its union said on Friday that they had reached a tentative labor agreement that would end a 19-day strike. Union members are expected to ratify the agreement over the weekend.

The local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 190 museum workers, had been seeking its first contract since forming in the summer of 2020.

Adam Rizzo, the president of the union’s Local 397, said the deal would increase salaries by 14% over the life of the three-year contract; establish a minimum salary of $42,000; increase the minimum wage for hourly employees to $16.75, from $15; add four weeks of parental leave; and reduce the cost of the high-deductible health care plan most employees are enrolled in.

“This will have a huge impact on the workers at the museum, and I think it will also potentially have ripple effects outward to other cultural institutions,” Rizzo said.

Sasha Suda, who took over as the museum’s director last month, said the agreement was a long time coming. “It demonstrates that no matter how complex things are, we are able to work together,” she said. “And I really believe that we’ve laid a solid foundation.”

The agreement minimizes disruptions as the museum, which features works by Jasper Johns, Marcel Duchamp, Constantin Brancusi and Auguste Rodin, prepares to open an exhibition on Henri Matisse next week. Union officials called off a picketing event scheduled for an exhibition-related celebration on Saturday.

A desire to open the Matisse exhibit and allow people to visit it unimpeded was a motivating factor in hastening a resolution, said Leslie Anne Miller, the museum’s chair. The museum had used management and nonunion employees to keep its galleries, shops and restaurants open during the strike, which began on Sept. 26.

“For weeks they were saying they would not even negotiate with us unless we reduced our proposals,” Rizzo said. “But I guess that turned out not to be true.”

The strike was part of a tumultuous period for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which employs about 340 people and receives some 750,000 visitors a year.

In 2020, The New York Times reported that a young male manager had been accused of mistreating several women on the staff. Government officials criticized the museum; employees unionized, citing gender and equity issues; and the director at the time, Timothy Rub, apologized to his staff. Suda was chosen to replace Rub after his resignation last summer and was almost immediately confronted by the labor unrest.

Miller said the museum’s board had hoped to have the labor dispute settled before Suda arrived and was relieved by its resolution. “We look forward to what we all believe is a new chapter in this museum’s history,” she said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.