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The ink is drying on a ratified contract between the Meow Wolf Workers Collective and the company, according to a statement from the union, less than a month after the two entities reached a tentative contract agreement.
“This contract will change the lives of Meow Wolf workers,” bargaining committee member and worker Leo Brown says in the statement. “We’re excited about what this means for the future of Meow Wolf.”
Brown also thanked the Communication Workers of America, under which the Meow Wolf Workers Collective’s 170 Santa Fe-based members formed in October 2020, and under which it will continue to operate.
Roughly $1 million will go toward wage adjustments for workers, bringing the annual salary for full-time employees up to $60,000. Other provisions include double the amount of parental leave time, adjusted overtime pay for salaried workers, the ability for workers to roll over their unused paid time off and layoff protections—perhaps one of the more important facets of the new contract, following the company laying off 201 employees in May 2020. The company blamed those layoffs on COVID-19, but SFR learned they were likely coming anyway.
Brown goes on to thank the company for acknowledging the needs of its workers, adding that, “Management and workers meeting as equals was the key to making this contract possible.
“We are proud of our collective efforts and the end result,” reads a statement from the company provided Friday afternoon. “Working together, we arrived at solutions that will make our entire company stronger as we continue to build a positive culture across all of Meow Wolf. We look forward to our collective future.”
