What do the art museum workers want? Five key issues at the heart of their strike.

Striking workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art took their historic contract fight with the museum to City Council on Thursday, arguing that management negotiators have been misrepresenting union positions in internal communications and in public comments.

A spokesperson for the museum strenuously disagreed Thursday evening with this characterization and emphasized that museum negotiators had bargained in good faith from the beginning of talks.

In a letter to all City Council members, AFSCME DC 47 president Catherine Scott castigated art museum management for making “representations [to council] that are inaccurate at best and deliberately misleading at worst.” In her letter to Council, Scott, the DC Local 47 president, said that the PMA union had not walked away from negotiations, as management has stated, but had “clearly communicated” to museum negotiators that “we need movement on five core issues” to make further headway at the bargaining table. Union members also attended Thursday’s council meeting, some testifying to the union’s intent.

But what are those five core issues? Basically it comes down to compensation and health care. Here’s a closer look at the demands:

1. Raises: ”Across-the-board raise” made retroactive to July 1 — when the museum “gave raises to all nonunion staff”.

2. Back pay: In an effort to make up for years of low pay, the union wants the museum to recognize “longevity” of service with payments of $500 for every five years of employment — a recognition of “longevity.” This longevity payment would be added to base pay every five years.

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3. Guaranteed minimums: Increased pay for hourly workers to a minimum of $16.75 per hour.

4. Overall increase in salary levels: An increase in base pay museum-wide.

5. Less expensive health care for employees: The health care benefits, union leaders state, are so expensive that most employees can only afford a “high deductible” plan which leaves employees “on the hook” for payments even after the deductible is met.

Adrienne Atiles, a grants manager at the museum who testified before Council, noted that the city budget provides for “significant city funds” to bolster museum operations but “many of us work several jobs, cannot afford health care” and are struggling with housing costs.

“The pay disparity within the museum is staggering, leaving those of us who actually put art on the walls and lead children’s programs to have to strike as a last resort,” Atiles said. “Meanwhile … museum executives bring home salaries ranging from $200,000 to $700,000 a year. It’s shameful.”

During the hearing, Council member Cindy Bass called the economic differences between museum management and the union “ridiculous.”

“The Art Museum does have a huge endowment and receives considerable freebies from the city of Philadelphia … on some of the most valuable real estate in the city of Philadelphia” and should be able to afford the union contract. She estimated that the union and the museum proposals were separated by about $300,000 annually.

“The value of the Philadelphia Museum of Art is not derived solely from the grandeur of the building or from the quality of their art collection — it lies in the strength of their staff,” said Council member Helen Gym. “The museum must meet the reasonable needs of their workers. It’s a world class institution with world class employees, and it’s time they treat them that way.”

In a statement issued Monday, museum management proposed “wage increases totaling 8.5% over the next 10 months and 11% by July 1, 2024″ and a “minimum annual salary for exempt employees that is more than 10% higher than the current lowest annual salary for these employees.”

The museum also said that it had offered employees four weeks of paid parental leave and accelerated eligibility for health benefits for new hourly employees, allowing those employees to receive medical, dental, and vision coverage up to 60 days earlier than they can today.

Union leaders, however, said there had been no offer to raise the minimum pay for hourly workers beyond the current $15 per hour. And they said the museum’s framing of its wage offer was “misleading.” In her letter, Scott said the museum offer actually amounted to a 3.6% raise a year “after three years of no raises at all and inflation running at over 8% a year.”

On the fourth day of the strike, Thursday, the museum reopened, after its regular closure on Tuesday and Wednesday. Managers and nonunion employees are staffing the building, and museum management has vowed to keep the museum up and running for the duration of the strike.

In a memo to employees on Wednesday, staff was instructed “to report to the west entrance on Thursday,” if they did not have a “specific strike assignment.”

“The Visitor Experience (VEX) team will provide assignments to those already trained and training will be done in either Visitor Services or Retail for those who have not yet been on the floor,” the memo instructed.

Both sides return to the bargaining table on Friday.