Museums hit by strike action
Museum workers in Glasgow will refuse to do overtime from this Friday and are also set to strike at the end of the month as their protest against pay freezes rumbles on.
The Scottish city has already seen cultural institutions and sport centres close twice for strike action this year, with workers unhappy about plans by Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG) to freeze pay and cut overtime payments.
Members of the four unions representing CSG workers - Unison, Unite, GMB and Bectu – attended a mass meeting last week to discuss further industrial action.
Brian Smith, Unison’s Glasgow branch secretary, told Museums Journal that provisional strike days are 28 and 31 May. He also said members voted for an overtime ban from this Friday.
CSG declined to comment on the latest developments. However, it has previously said: “We have consistently made it clear that our priority is to protect both services and jobs. In order to make the savings necessary to achieve this, we must change the way we work – or be forced to consider job cuts.”
The first strike at the end of April saw a total shutdown of CSG facilities across the city. The second strike coincided with the general election on 6 May, and Glasgow City Council used a last-minute legal ruling to ban picket lines outside buildings being used as polling stations.
However, all museums run by CSG - including the Kelvingrove Museum, St Mungo Museum of Religious Art and Life and the People’s Palace - were closed for the entire day.
Meanwhile, the National Gallery in London has also been hit with strike action with 30 rooms closed to the public on 13 May along with the Sainsbury Wing galleries and two clockrooms.
The industrial action - by members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) such as warders, security guards and shop workers - was in response to a 2010 pay freeze for supervisors and smaller-than-expected rise for most retail assistants.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary at PCS, said: “Our members provide valuable services at what is one of London’s major cultural attractions, but they are living on poverty pay.”
A spokesman for PCS said it has talks with members planned over the next couple of weeks. This could include a vote on further strike action.
