I Called It Right Again, The Museum Is In Trouble

On Monday, I wrote about the rumors I heard that the Milwaukee Public Museum was in financial straits again. Guess what? I was right again:

It's crunch time again at the Milwaukee Public Museum, in the form of $368,000 in unpaid employee furloughs and suspended retirement contributions to offset a revenue downturn.

But instead of the hand-wringing and recriminations that happened four years ago when deep financial problems at the museum were uncovered, there has been no uproar this time, with administrators and employees agreeing to concessions to ride out the recession.

Fewer people are going to the museum and donations have dipped, both reflections of the deepening downturn, museum President Dan Finley said Thursday.

The article goes on to say that upper management is going to share in the pain as well:

All employees who earn more than $20,000 will take unpaid furloughs, with the highest-paid workers giving up the most pay.

Finley and three museum vice presidents will take four weeks of unpaid leave; others will take six days to two weeks of unpaid leave, depending on salary level.

That cut will cost Finley $16,000 off his $196,000 annual pay.

He said as a practical matter, it's not likely that he and the vice presidents will be able to take off the full four weeks of unpaid leave, meaning they'll work for at least a portion of their furloughs for free.

The wage cuts for managers will total $156,000, and cuts to union workers at the museum will total $66,000.

Contributions to museum employees' 401(k) retirement accounts will be suspended through August, for additional savings of $146,000, Finley said.

What is a crying shame is that the workers have to give up their pay so that the top administrators can keep the very generous raises that they just gave themselves.

And to think some people keep insisting that it is the unions that are causing the problems with the economy and with businesses.