Chapter 36
Thirty-Six
NSX Museum Workers Strike Interview Transcript
Interviewees: Divya Agarwal (security guard); TJ Egan (guest services associate); Lola Fuentes (GSA); Elisha Goldstein (GSA, docent); Naomi
Goldstein (GSA); Dan Guzman (GS assistant supervisor); Jaime Jimenez (GSA); Efraín Juarez Reyna (GSA); Winston Keating (head
curator); Eden Lantier (assistant curator); Miles Petri (security guard); Stanley Pham (GSA, docent); Gwen Pryce (GSA); Blake
Xie (GSA, docent)
Note: Interviews were conducted individually. This transcript has been edited and abridged.
Kiera Kim: Why did you take this job? Are you a Nuclear Seasons fan, or is it just a job for you?
Eden Lantier: I got lucky. I felt like I won the lottery when I saw the job listing. I love the show, and do you have any idea how few
curatorial jobs are out there? It’s an employment desert.
Divya Agarwal: I just needed to pay my bills, man. Girl’s gotta live, right?
Efraín Juarez Reyna: I applied to get back at my mom. If anyone else tries to tell you their intentions were less than noble, I promise it’s nothing
compared to that.
Gwen Pryce: I thought it would look good on my college applications. Not this job, but the paid internship. What did Eli tell you?
Jaime Jimenez: I needed a second job. I worked at Punch Bowl part-time in high school, but after, Mr. Xie couldn’t afford to hire me full-time.
I wanted to take classes at the junior college, too, so working here . . . worked.
Lola Fuentes: So, I’d just broken up with this guy who works at my family’s body shop, and it was too awkward working together, and I couldn’t
ask him to find another job, so . . .
Stanley Pham: I think Winston and I are the only ones who can say we were NS fans when the show aired. I was a kid, too young to be watching it, really, but I loved it. NS is the reason I thought I’d try my hand at screenwriting . . . I don’t normally talk about my time in LA, about the casual
racism in every writers’ room I ever walked into. I just . . . I wanted to write, and I wanted to like going to work every
day. For a while there, I didn’t think I could have both. But I realized I didn’t need to see my name in credits on the screen.
I just liked writing, putting on the occasional production with the theater here, and I got a job that I do love. Most days,
at least.
Kiera Kim: How do you feel about working conditions at the Nuclear Seasons Experience?
Dan Guzman: It’s a job. I’ve worked worse jobs.
TJ Egan: Some of the rules seem kinda strict?
Stanley Pham: Conditions on the floor are better than they used to be. Progress is slow, but I believe everyone is well-intentioned.
Elisha Goldstein: I don’t feel like a person when I’m on the clock.
Naomi Goldstein: I don’t think I’m enough of a people person to do customer service.
Gwen Pryce: I am very grateful for California’s high minimum wage.
Jaime Jimenez: I used to play soccer. I was good—really good, you know? Woulda gotten a scholarship if—point is, I know something about
being part of a team. And I always thought it was weird, how the managers here always talk about us as a “team” because I
know what a team feels like. But they don’t treat us the way you’re supposed to treat your team. When your coach makes you
run extra laps, you know why, but here . . . A pizza party here and there . . . This isn’t how you treat your teammates. I
don’t know much about business, but I know this isn’t how you should run one.
Kiera Kim: Have you experienced discrimination or harassment at the museum?
Jaime Jimenez: I don’t know if I would call it discrimination . . .
Blake Xie: People talk, just like they do anywhere. My first summer here, I got shit because I was masking—my nai nai was doing chemo.
But that’s nothing compared to HR asking for confidential medical records before granting a single accommodation.
Eden Lantier: I spend most of my time in the vault, so I don’t interact with guests very often. But the admin staff over in the farmhouse?
If I had a penny for every time someone implied I was a DEI hire, I’d be able to pay off my student loans.
Naomi Goldstein: Did someone already tell you about the hair dye?
Lola Fuentes: You’ve been following social media coverage of the strike, right?
Efraín Juarez Reyna: How long do you have?
Elisha Goldstein: [laughs]
Kiera Kim: Why did you join the union?
Lola Fuentes: I wasn’t gonna let anyone threaten my friends without a fight.
Elisha Goldstein: I was informed that I had already joined the union after our first action. It was unintentional. But after I saw behind the
curtain . . .
Naomi Goldstein: My job was in danger. That sounds bad. I wish I had a better answer, but I don’t know if I would’ve felt confident enough
to join an underground union for other causes. But I’m glad I did.
Stanley Pham: I love these kids to death, but they’re not subtle. I know a thing or two about organizing, sure, but I also know everything
about this museum. I know our bosses. I knew I could help.
Kiera Kim: If you could change one thing about the museum, what would it be?
Efraín Juarez Reyna: Just one thing?
Naomi Goldstein: The union has a comprehensive grievance list.
Divya Agarwal: I could really use a raise.
Jaime Jimenez: More full-time positions, with benefits.
Blake Xie: The sick leave policy.
Miles Petri: Secure scheduling.
Winston Keating: I’d like to run my department without fear of managerial censorship.
Eden Lantier: I know sensitivity training is out of vogue, but a racial caucus sure wouldn’t hurt.
Gwen Pryce: There isn’t nearly enough employee parking in the car park.
Stanley Pham: I suppose it’d be nice to carry around a real water bottle . . .
Kiera Kim: Why did you join the picket line?
Dan Guzman: Because the only time I’ve ever been ashamed to work at this museum was when I read that press release.
Jaime Jimenez: Because the union got us stools on the museum floor.
Naomi Goldstein: Because the museum broke the law by union busting.
Lola Fuentes: Because the museum fired my best friend.
Efraín Juarez Reyna: Because my boyfriend asked me to.
Elisha Goldstein: Because it was the right thing to do.
Kiera Kim: What demands need to be met in order to end the strike?
Naomi Goldstein: The pertinent points are in the letter.
Lola Fuentes: All they have to do to get us to the table is give Efraín his job back and write pronoun buttons into the dress code.
Stanley Pham: Well, Efraín filed an Unfair Labor Practice with the NLRB. That’s the basis for our strike, so Dagny needs to rehire Efraín.
We stand by our pronoun buttons. Personally, I also believe Dagny owes the boys an apology.
Efraín Juarez Reyna: I won’t be satisfied until management lets us wear our buttons.
Kiera Kim: Wait, what about your job? Don’t you want your job back?
Efraín Juarez Reyna: [stares at the camera]
Elisha Goldstein: They need to rehire Efraín, with back pay.
Kiera Kim: What about the pronoun buttons?
Elisha Goldstein: Oh, right.
Kiera Kim: What message do you have for Nuclear Seasons fans who’ve been following this saga at home? What do you hope they take away from hearing your story?
Elisha Goldstein: I won’t lie. This week has been rough. Anyone who needs proof, just google my name. You’ll also see that a lot of that hate
has come from NS fans—but they’re the minority. They have to be. The alternative just doesn’t make sense for people who love a show like NS.
Trusting the union to have my back has been hard. Trusting strangers is even harder, but . . .
I’m asking, if you love Nuclear Seasons like I do, please see the people behind the institution. Listen to our messages. See us as humans, rather than walking, talking
ticketing machines and audio tours. As a fan, as a union member, and yes, as a NSX worker, I’m asking for your help. I couldn’t
have done any of this without the help of the union. I’m telling you now, the union can’t do this without your help.
So if you’re local, if you’re willing, if you’re able, please join me this Friday night at seven o’clock at Blue Plate Picture
Palace here in Egan’s Creek, California, for a different kind of anniversary party, where we honor not only the museum’s twenty-five
years but also the people who have made it possible, from Victor Kane all the way to . . . well, you.