Is Museum of Science treating its workers poorly?
By 
The nonprofit Museum of Science is operating like – well, a business.
That’s the broad takeaway from a story in the Boston Globe, which reports that sales employees at the museum say they are being pressured into “taking as much money as possible from visitors.”
In the print edition of the Globe, the story ran at the top of page one, but it’s a bit hard to understand what makes it so unusual.
The museum is apparently going through a tough stretch. Its longtime president, Ioannis Miaoulis, who made $626,000 in total compensation in fiscal 2017, left in January and hasn’t yet been replaced. The museum’s total operating income is down, from $66.2 million in 2016 to $63.9 million in 2017. With expenses outpacing revenues, 29 employees have been let go via a combination of voluntary retirements and layoffs.
Museum officials say there hasn’t been an increased emphasis on sales goals and no workers have been fired as part of the reorganization, but the Globe reports that employees who haven’t hit their sales targets have been given warnings and denied raises. One employee was told to reach the sales goals or lose shifts.
The Globe quotes Brian McGrath, who left the museum three years ago saying that during his time there he saw a shift in focus from making guests happy to getting “as much money as we could from them.” He said he was pressured to sell tickets to the IMAX movie Africa: The Serengeti to families with young children, even though the film contained scenes of animals eating other animals.
“The museum mistreats its workers and is currently exploiting its staff and its visitors for profit,” McGrath wrote in an email. “If you care about the city and if you care about people in general, it should bother you that an institution which markets itself as a leading provider of educational family fun is employing dirty tactics and ignoring the welfare of its dedicated staff in order to take visitors for as much as they can.”
Dirty tactics? Seems like a bit of overreach there. The reality is that revenues are down at the Museum of Science, and the institution is scrambling to bring them back up. One could argue that things could get worse for employees if revenues keep slipping.
BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
Senate President Karen Spilka won’t commit to taking up a transportation revenue bill if the House passes one. (CommonWealth)
The Legislature appears on the verge of passing an initiative that would commit the state to providing 50 cents for every dollar donated to public college endowments in Massachusetts. Backers say the measure could provide $20 million in aid. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Cycling advocates push back against concerns raised about proposal bike lanes on West Roxbury’s Centre Street, pointing to studies showing they boost local businesses and don’t harm them. (Boston Herald)
Some big publishers are limiting libraries to signing out only one copy of new e-books for the first eight weeks after publication, a move that has Cape Cod libraries, as well as others across the country, up in arms. (Cape Cod Times)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
The US House has granted President Trump more rights in the ongoing impeachment inquiry than past presidents were granted in the same circumstances, according to Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern. (WGBH)
The House Ethics Committee is continuing its investigation into Congresswoman Lori Trahan’s campaign finances with plans to update the public by December 17. (Eagle-Tribune)
ELECTIONS
It’s Election Day in many municipalities across the state. (Boston Globe)
Two Latinas are on the ballot for at-large city council seats in Boston, a sign of the community’s growing political muscle. (Boston Globe)
As if it’s not hard enough to guess what will happen in a presidential contest one year away, the Washington Post reports on national poll results showing big leads for the top Democratic contenders in match-ups against President Trump one day after the New York Times highlighted polls results showing Trump’s continued competitive standing in key swing states that could determine the Electoral College winner.
Targeting Democrats well in advance of next year’s elections, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance adopted a spooky Halloween theme to bash lawmakers over their support of a tax proposal. (Salem News)
EDUCATION
Every public community college in the state except one has seen a drop in enrollment over the last decade as higher education institutions feel the demographic pinch of a decline in the college-age population. (State House News Service)
Some Boston neighborhoods suffer from an acute shortage of daycare slots, and the cost the high-quality day care is increasingly unaffordable to many families, according to a new report. (Boston Globe)
School officials in East Bridgewater are investigating a video featuring young people, some in black face, using the N-word. (The Enterprise)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Bay Staters with employer-provided health insurance want to know how much procedures will cost, but they don’t know how to find that information, according to a survey commissioned by the Pioneer Institute. (WGBH)
ARTS/CULTURE
Director Martin Scorcese elaborates on why he thinks Marvel action films are not cinema in an Interesting and provocative read. (New York Times)
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board unanimously approves five resolutions designed to transform the commuter rail system into a more subway-like system with electrified trains running every 15 to 20 minutes on the “most dense corridors.” (CommonWealth)
Paul Vidal, a longtime amateur pilot from Westport, was killed when his plane crashed into a cemetery in New Bedford’s South End. (Standard-Times)
CASINOS
The three gambling sites now open in the state are all failing to meet their projected revenue targets in a sign of a regional casino market that some say is oversaturated . (Boston Globe) There is no casino in southeastern Massachusetts, and one may never materialize because of legal strife and market oversaturation. (MassLive)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
US Attorney Andrew Lelling has convened a grand jury to investigate possible improprieties in host community agreements between Massachusetts municipalities and marijuana companies. (Boston Globe)
State Police using facial recognition technology say they identified a man at a Registry of Motor Vehicles office using fake identification to obtain a learner’s permit. (Telegram & Gazette)
MEDIA
The Salt Lake Tribune wins approval from the IRS to become a nonprofit. (Nieman Journalism Lab)
The Trump era is upsetting many journalistic norms, but there is pretty widespread agreement that newspapers, including The Harvard Crimson, should reach out to both sides for comment on stories. (WBUR)