MALAGA.- The year in which tribute is being paid to Pablo Picasso on the 50th anniversary of his death, is not turning out to be a celebration for staff at Museo Picasso Málaga. For over nine months, their representatives have been fruitlessly trying to negotiate their fifth collective labour agreement. For this reason, over the last two months the museum’s workers have been forced to go on strike and demonstrate several times to demand a fair labour agreement, with wage, work and social conditions in line with those of workers at other museums in the same category.

With a view to unblocking and moving forward with this lengthy and unproductive negotiation, the Works Committee has been forced to call another strike, this time for five consecutive days, from 18th to 22nd September. This further strike action, which will be accompanied by daily protests at the door of the museum from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., could seriously hamper the opening of the exhibition THE ECHO OF PICASSSO, scheduled for 2nd October, as strike action might even be extended to the week of 25th to 29th September if the company stubbornly continues in its failure to respect the current labour agreement and to evaluate the improvements to the fifth one that workers are requesting, such as the workday, flexible working hours, life-work balance and a sense of belonging to the institution.

Museo Picasso Málaga is taking part in the international tribute “Celebrating Picasso 1973-2023” and, in October, will also be celebrating its 20th anniversary. These events could lose prominence if no agreement is reached. Over the last twenty years, the undisputed professionalism of MPM’s staff has been key to the museum´s rating as a top-class artistic and touristic organization. It is currently one of the ten most visited museums in Spain and ranks internationally among the top 100.

Before negotiations began last autumn, the Works Committee made a comparative study with ten other museums such as Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga and Museo Thyssen Madrid, Fundación Miró, BBAA Bilbao, Museu Picasso Barcelona, and others. They discovered that both the wages and working conditions at MPM were far lower than at the other organizations.