Regular hours suspended in solidarity with PSAC 901
Updated March 17, 2025: as of Tuesday, March 18, Union Gallery will be open again with limited public hours for the duration of the strike. Please read our latest statement here.
Posted: March 10, 2025
Effective immediately, Union Gallery (UG) will be closed to the public during regular gallery hours in solidarity with our striking colleagues in the Public Service Alliance of Canada Local 901 (PSAC 901).
UG is an independent, not-for-profit, contemporary public art gallery located on Queen’s campus. Our operational structure includes two core professional staff members—the Gallery Director and Program Director—as well as contracts with part-time student staff, including graduate-level Research Assistants (RAs) who are unionized under PSAC 901.
As precarious arts sector workers with no union of our own, our core staff stand in solidarity with our unionized colleagues as they fight for fair contracts with Queen’s. To that end, UG’s undergraduate and professional staff will not take on work normally carried out by graduate student workers (such as covering shifts or answering emails on behalf of RAs), and the gallery will be limiting its role as an academic resource for the duration of the strike.
While we recognize that an academic shutdown will take a toll on students, faculty, and staff, we believe that this strike highlights the crucial role that PSAC 901 workers play in academic life at Queen’s. As we stated last September, Union Gallery would not be the thriving arts space it is today without the vision, creativity, and dedicated work of Queen’s graduate students.
Although we plan to remain closed during regular hours this week should the strike continue, UG will honour our agreement with Two Rabbits One Hat, who have rented the Main Space for use as a private theatre venue in the evenings of March 11, 12, 13, and 14. This rental agreement, made between our professional staff and Two Rabbits One Hat, does not involve the labour of any PSAC 901 members.
We hope that a fair agreement can be reached quickly between Queen’s and PSAC 901 and that we will soon be able to resume all of our activities, supporting students and the broader public of Katarokwi/Kingston. In the meantime, the UG team expresses deep respect for the courage and tenacity of graduate student workers at Queen’s University.
Signed,
Haley Sarfeld, Program Director
Morgan Wedderspoon, Gallery Director
Further Reading
Public Service Alliance of Canada Local 901, “PSAC 901 Unit 1 Notice of Strike.” March 10, 2025. https://psac901.org/psac-901-unit-1-notice-of-strike/