Workers at the Royal Pavilion and the city’s museums are set to walk out for three days next week as part of a continuing dispute over pay and conditions.
The GMB union has called walkouts on Wednesday 3, Thursday 4 and Friday 5 June. It follows previous strikes in April, which forced the museums to close.
Staff are being asked to agree new contracts which break the link with local authority staff payscales – which they were assured would remain in place when management of the Royal Pavilion, Preston Manor, Brighton Museum, Hove Museum and the Booth Museum was transferred from Brighton and Hove City Council to the Brighton and Hove Museums trust.
The union says discussions with trust management have failed to reach a resolution, with GMB presenting a proposal which has been rejected, the previous offer withdrawn and no plan for the board of trustees to meet before July.
Oliver Cruikshank, GMB Regional Organiser said: “We attended a meeting on Wednesday [27 May] where we presented a fair and reasonable proposal, which offered compromise on certain issues from our members, including pay.
“This was rejected out of hand, with the existing offer no longer on the table and no plans for the board to meet to discuss any further resolution.
“GMB is entering these negotiations in good faith, with agreement seeming close a few weeks ago, but have been faced with a trust which is not even prepared to discuss the pay rise our members were due in April.
“We understand the trust may be facing serious monetary issues, but it is not our members – the lowest paid but most important staff within the trust – who should shoulder the blame for this nor the responsibility to dig the trust out of any holes.
“In order to avoid further strike dates being issued, the trust needs to call an urgent meeting, with trustees and decision makers from the council present, to be able to negotiate with GMB representatives and finally put a stop to this dispute.”
Good on them! I like to visit our local museums, but if the council are shafting the staff on their wages, then something should be done. I hope that their action leads to the payscales being retained.
The council isn’t shafting anyone as they don’t employ or pay these staff – the museum trust does.
If if if if could be maybe if if might be, has anyone spoken with the employees or is this the usual union hijacking the deal before anyone says anything ??? you might wonder.