Museum workers strike over pensions
Museums in Liverpool, Newcastle, Preston and Inverclyde, and parts of BM, to close
Museum workers across the country are to strike over government plans to increase public sector pension contributions.
In London, a mass gathering of union members from the Victoria and Albert Museum, Science Museum and Natural History Museum (NHM) is to take place on Exhibition Road at 10.30 on Wednesday 30 November.
Workers from the British Museum (BM), Imperial War Museum, Museum of London, National Gallery, National Maritime Museum, Tate Modern and Tate Britain, and the National Portrait Gallery, are also expected to strike.
The BM issued a statement saying: "Some areas of the museum may be subject to closure."
A spokeswoman at the NHM said the museum was planning to open as usual but that contingency plans were in place to cover any staff that went on the strike.
According to trade union Prospect, museum workers at the National Railway Museum in York, the National Media Museum in Bradford, National Museums Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, and Royal Armouries in Leeds, will also be striking.
National Museums Liverpool, Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston, and the McLean Museum and Art Gallery in Inverclyde, all announced that their museums and galleries would close.
A statement from Prospect reads: "Prospect members backed the strike action in a ballot by a three to one majority earlier this month. Turnout was 52.6%.
"The government’s revised offer, which would still cut the value of their pension by 39%, has been rejected as inadequate by the union’s civil service sector executive.
"Professionals and specialists are among three million workers protesting against the imposition of a 3.2% average increase in pension contributions (5% for anyone earning over 30,000), the switch from retail price index to consumer price index for uprating pensions, and being forced to work an extra eight years to receive a pension."
In London, a mass gathering of union members from the Victoria and Albert Museum, Science Museum and Natural History Museum (NHM) is to take place on Exhibition Road at 10.30 on Wednesday 30 November.
Workers from the British Museum (BM), Imperial War Museum, Museum of London, National Gallery, National Maritime Museum, Tate Modern and Tate Britain, and the National Portrait Gallery, are also expected to strike.
The BM issued a statement saying: "Some areas of the museum may be subject to closure."
A spokeswoman at the NHM said the museum was planning to open as usual but that contingency plans were in place to cover any staff that went on the strike.
According to trade union Prospect, museum workers at the National Railway Museum in York, the National Media Museum in Bradford, National Museums Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, and Royal Armouries in Leeds, will also be striking.
National Museums Liverpool, Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston, and the McLean Museum and Art Gallery in Inverclyde, all announced that their museums and galleries would close.
A statement from Prospect reads: "Prospect members backed the strike action in a ballot by a three to one majority earlier this month. Turnout was 52.6%.
"The government’s revised offer, which would still cut the value of their pension by 39%, has been rejected as inadequate by the union’s civil service sector executive.
"Professionals and specialists are among three million workers protesting against the imposition of a 3.2% average increase in pension contributions (5% for anyone earning over 30,000), the switch from retail price index to consumer price index for uprating pensions, and being forced to work an extra eight years to receive a pension."