Museum workers in Glasgow could vote for more strike action during a mass meeting with union leaders due to be held at 6pm tonight.
The Scottish city has already seen cultural institutions and sport centres close twice in just seven days for strike action, with workers unhappy about plans by Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG) to freeze pay and cut overtime payments.
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 (pictured), the Burrell Collection and the People’s Palace - were closed for the entire day.
Unison, Unite, GMB and Bectu - four separate unions that together represent CSG’s workers - all returned successful ballots for these strikes. Tonight’s meeting will see union leaders update members on their efforts to secure a resolution to the dispute.
Discussions will also focus on the strategy for the coming months – and could well include more strike action.
Brian Smith, Unison’s Glasgow branch secretary, told Museums Journal that CSG management has made no move to resolve the disputed issues. “The meeting tonight will be presented with suggested further actions,” he added.
A Unison leaflet states: “Workers have been left with no option other than to use strike action in an effort to defend their pay and conditions. Our members provide culture and sport services across Glasgow and recognise the wide disruption that strike action will cause.”
CSG plans to reduce weekly working hours from 37 to 35 (with a 6 per cent loss in pay), downgrade jobs with loss of pay between £500 and £2,000 per year and end premium rates for working on six public holidays, according to GMB.
A spokesman for CSG said: “Around one-in-seven of our staff voted for strike action and the trade unions are fully aware that the public sector is not immune from the current financial crisis.
"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.”
Back in January, Museums Journal reported that Glasgow City Council was proposing to close five museums on Mondays as part of wider cost-cutting measures planned for across the local authority.
The council said it wanted to save £60m in 2010-11 – with Culture and Sport Glasgow tasked with finding savings of £3.4m in the next financial year.