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In what seems to have practically become an annual tradition, experiential arts corporation Meow Wolf today announced layoffs will hit security staff across all of its locations in New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Texas. Or, rather, the Meow Wolf Workers Collective union made the announcement.
According to an official statement put out by the MWWC via reddit, this means that security presence for installations at Santa Fe's House of Eternal Return, Las Vegas' Omega Mart, Denver's Convergence Station, Houston's Radio Tave and Grapevine's The Real Unreal will now be limited to guest entry points rather than being a presence within the installations themselves.
"The company claims this change improves 'guest experience,' but has not shared any data to support this," the MWWC statement reads. 'The Union has requested to see incident reports, guest-experience metrics, and security logs, none of which have been shared."
The statement goes on to call the move "unsafe, citing the speed of in-exhibit security to medical incidents, guest altercations, harassment and accessibility needs as major concerns. The statement also says that a lack of in-exhibit security will create blind spots, delayed security response and, ultimately, heightened risk for staff and guests. The statement also alleges the decision came down following "anecdotal observations of executives and board members and their families."
"It is unsafe for our guests, unsafe to our employees—it is unsafe—because Meow Wolf exhibits are dark, twisty, intense and loud. People are going to get hurt," executive vice president of the union Michael J. Wilson tells SFR.
Wilson also explains Meow Wolf security staff across its locations is a combination of union members and contract workers. And though security workers in Denver and Las Vegas have already been informed they will no longer have jobs, according to Wilson, workers at other locations have not yet been informed pending negotiations between the company and the MWWC
"What they're saying is they'll staff up for events, but they've been incredibly vague about what that means," Wilson continues. "What it means is they'll work with contract security partners for events, and that's what they do currently. But this is a blatant violation of the union contract. This is where things get complicated. In our union contracts, the company is supposed to provide us information when we request it. We have received none."
Wilson also says that union contracts state if and when layoffs happen, the company must let go of contractors before they can lay off full-time employees.
"Their whole plan to make this work is to hire contractors to fill the gaps," Wilson continues, "which is another violation."
The company did not respond to a request for comment by press time, and there is no information as of now about how many security workers lost their jobs just before Christmas. Meow Wolf made a similar move last year, nearly to the day, and just a few months after it laid off numerous workers across locations—all before announcing a 2026 expansion into Los Angeles in May of last year. Last March, the company also announced a New York City location was in the works.
Last December, however, Meow Wolf workers began distributing an online petition calling for CEO Jose Tolosa to step down. At the time, when SFR asked if Tolosa would heed the call, he said "Of course not." That proved to be untrue in April when he did indeed announce his resignation. Meow Wolf board member Rebecca Campbell stepped into an interim position at the time, and no new CEO has been announced.
Meanwhile, back in union world, the Meow Wolf Workers Collective has suggested its social media followers might like to contact the company directly to voice displeasure.
