MALAGA.- 93% of Museo Picasso Málaga’s employees took part in a vote, with 85% of voters backing a strike on Friday 2nd June, from 10.00 a.m. until 1.00 p.m. After more than seven months of negotiations and very few actual meetings, which the Works Council has described as “beating about the bush”, the ultimatum offered by the company, a wage increase of 8% (with no retroactive effect for 2022), was a long way from the 25% drop in purchasing power that workers have suffered after eleven years without an increase in either their wages or the Consumer Price Index, a drop in salary of between 3-5% in 2012, and two temporary layoff adjustments (ERTES) during the pandemic. Furthermore, the proposed annual reduction in working hours was 1,710 hours, which is 33 hours less than the current 1,743 hours (this being 100 hours more than the annual working hours at other museums.)

The protest will coincide with the first annual meeting at the Museum of the Fundación Museo Picasso Málaga. Legado Paul, Christine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, which is chaired by Arturo Bernal, regional director of tourism, culture and sport, and vice-chairman Bernard Ruiz-Picasso.

The match that lit the fuse

Before starting negotiations last autumn, the MPM Works Council carried out a comparative study based on wage agreements at ten other museums, including Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga and Museo Thyssen Madrid, Fundación Miró, BBAA Bilbao and Museo Picasso Barcelona, amongst others. Their findings concluded that salaries and employment conditions at MPM were far lower than at the other organizations.

After months of fruitless negotiations, in March this year the board of MPM issued a call for a new artistic director for a period of five years, starting in 2024, with a salary of 80,000€ a year, 35,000€ for accommodation and 5,000€ for personal travel expenses, as well as a guaranteed annual pay rise linked to the price index of Málaga province, which is the second highest in Spain.

It just so happens that in October 2023 the museum will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its official opening and will also be taking part in the international Celebrating Picasso. 1973-2023 project. Workers therefore still trust they will be able to reach a fair labour agreement. The hard work and sacrifice of Museo Picasso Málaga’s workers over the last twenty years has not undermined their commitment or the standard of their work. Their undisputed professionalism has led MPM to become a first class artistic and touristic institution. Positive figures are published each year and are the result of MPM’s ever-increasing number of visitors from all over the world, and the far-reaching impact of its media coverage both in Spain and abroad. According to the esteemed art publication The Art Newspaper, Museo Picasso Málaga is one of the 100 most-visited museums in the world and ranks ninth in Spain.