Supervisors, museum officials and guards spar over 35‑ vs. 40‑hour schedules at Fine Arts Museums hearing

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Government Audit & Oversight Committee held a special hearing June 20, 2017 on working conditions for security guards at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Asian Art Museum, where city Human Resources officials and museum managers defended a long‑standing 35‑hour model while guards and union representatives urged restoring 40‑hour positions to improve pay, benefits and on‑the‑job briefing.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who called the hearing, framed the issue as both operational and moral, saying the city should “give real jobs that are full time jobs, where people can support their families, and that those extra hours can be pensionable.” Peskin pressed museum and DHR officials on whether existing overtime and event hours could be reallocated to raise part‑time guards to full‑time status.

Luana Preston, employee relations manager at the Department of Human Resources (DHR), reviewed the bargaining history that led to the current schedules. She told the committee that concessions during the city’s 2008 budget crisis reduced many museum guards from 40 to 35 hours; a 2011 settlement allowed previously‑40‑hour guards an opportunity to return to 40 hours but most subsequent hires were made at 35 hours.…