Between 170 and 180 Museum of London employees are today taking part in a strike in protest to their 2007-2008 pay reward which they claim is 13 months late and at 2% is half the rate of inflation.
The Prospect union who represent the employees has reported that staff from the Museum of London and the Museum of London Archeology voted nine to one in favour of a strike, however a spokesperson from the museum has confirmed that one in five museum staff and half of union members voted for strike action.†
During the strike staff will be demonstrating outside the museum, which will remain open all day.
In addition over 200 curators, conservators, technical staff and managers at the National Museum of Science and Industry have set Friday 13 June as the first in a series of one-day strikes over a pay deal of 1.5% which is falling below levels set by the treasury.
Prospect's national secretary Emily Boase, said: "Members have endured a pay freeze after waiting more than a year for an offer to be tabled. They now face an effective cu in pay with the imposition of an offer of just 1.5% plus performance additions in the first year with the second year based entirely on performance letters."
Prospect negotiator for the Museum of London and the Museum of London Archeology, Dave Allan, added: "The government has tied the museum's hand at a time when we knew that a fair reward was essential to retain specialist staff. For example, the museum's bid for 5%-6% was comparable to commercial archeology units, who are recruiting extensively in the run-up to the Olympics, but was rejected by the Treasury."
A spokesperson from the Museum of London said:†"The museum recognises that staff are unhappy with the pay settlement for 2007/08 which was delayed because of the comprehensive spending review and although amounting to 3.5% only 2% of this could be consolidated; This was restricted due to public sector pay policy set by the government. In fact, the museum had budgeted for a higher settlement, but was denied the opportunity to offer this to staff."