National Coal Mining Museum staff to strike over pay row

An ongoing pay row at the National Coal Mining Museum in Wakefield looks set to result in industrial action, with workers voting to take part in four weeks of strikes starting from next week.

Staff will initially walk out from Wednesday 20 August to Sunday 14 September, but have warned they may take further action if a pay deal isn’t agreed. Although the museum will remain open during this time, it will temporarily stop offering its popular underground tours to visitors.

The museum offered all staff a 5% an hour pay deal back in early June, but rejected a counter offer by Unison for 5% or an additional £1 an hour, whichever was higher.

The museum says that an extra £1 an hour equates to 8% in some cases, which would “jeopardise people’s jobs across the organisation and threaten the long-term sustainability of the museum”.

In an official statement, the National Coal Mining Museum said: “Despite challenging economic times our staff have been offered a 5% pay rise this year. As a charity, our trustees feel this current offer is fair and the counter claim by Unison, which equates to over 8% for many, is simply unaffordable.”

The museum says its 5% pay offer has been rejected by Unison. It points out looking at last year’s pay rise, 5% this year would make a cumulative increase of 14% over two years.

“It is our intention to keep an open dialogue with Unison with the sincere hope that this offer, along with the many additional benefits included, will be accepted to benefit our staff as a whole,” the statement continues.

“It is extremely disappointing that this strike action appears to be planned for four weeks, coinciding with the last two weeks of the summer holidays and into September. This will impact the experiences of so many children, families, and schools to whom the museum means so much.”

In its statement, Unison claims the 5% offer was withdrawn by the museum on 17 June. A strike ballot in July resulted in nearly 74% in favour of strike action.

“Putting a pay offer on the table then taking it away is completely unacceptable,” said Rianne Hooley, the regional organiser for Unison Yorkshire and Humberside. “Nobody wants to take strike action, but nobody wants to be messed about either.

“There’s still time for the museum to stop any disruption. Managers simply need to honour the pay rise offered to workers in June. Staff are prepared to take sustained strike action to secure the fair pay rise they were promised.”

A spokesperson for the museum said it has not withdrawn its 5% pay offer and at no point agreed the enhanced 8% offer.

Back in 2022, workers at the National Coal Mining Museum cancelled planned industrial action after the charity agreed a pay rise of up to 10.5% for its 100-plus staff.