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Supervisors continue review of Fine Arts museum guard staffing after workers, union press for conversions from per‑diems
Summary
Museum guards, union leaders and Fine Arts Museums officials urged the Budget & Finance Committee to convert per‑diem and provisional security posts into permanent, trained positions for safety and continuity. The committee continued the item to June 21 to reconcile vacancies and hiring benchmarks.
Supervisors on the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee on Friday heard more than an hour of public testimony calling on the city to convert per‑diem museum guards into permanent positions so staff would receive consistent training and benefits.
Museum guards, SEIU representatives and Fine Arts Museums employees described frequent use of temporary and per‑diem staff, which they said risks visitor and collection safety because part‑time workers lack the training and continuity of permanent employees. Barry Rodriguez, a Fine Arts Museums employee, described per‑diems as "a subterfuge to transition to contracting out," and said public‑safety routines such as evacuation procedures and CPR are at issue.
John Buchanan, director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, told the committee the museums had hired many per‑diems during a period of operational ramp‑up since the De Young re‑opening and that the mayor’s budget proposes adding five regular guard positions to reduce reliance on temporary hires. Deputy Comptroller Monique Smuta reported the controller’s office found the Fine Arts Museum has exceeded its temporary‑staff spending in recent years; she also identified nearly 12 vacant positions across the museum guard series that the museums could fill.
Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval and others pressed departments to produce vacancy lists and attrition savings estimates and asked for hiring benchmarks. Facing continued questions about salary savings being used to fund temporaries, the committee voted to continue the item to the committee date on June 21 to allow staff to provide the vacancy and attrition comparisons requested and to work with the controller and departments on a hiring plan.
Next steps: the item was continued to the committee’s June 21 hearing so supervisors can review exact vacancy counts, projected attrition savings and administrative benchmarks for converting roles to permanent status.
Quotes in this story come from public testimony and committee staff presentations recorded in the committee transcript.
