Over 150 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have voted to strike from 26th November until 2nd December. Of the 87.72% turnout at the ballot box, 98% voted for industrial action.
The move comes after Tate’s workforce suffered redundancies this year in the second restructuring since 2020, according to the PCS. They also cite disputes over pay, the closure of the staff canteens on London sites which provided subsidised meals, and the withdrawn access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme as reason for the strike.
Industrial action is taking place across Tate venues in London, Liverpool and St. Ives, causing major disruptions. The strike is likely to cause particular disruption at Tate Britain, coinciding with the opening of a J.M.W. Turner and John Constable exhibition later this week.
This is the second major PCS strike in recent months, following the 300-strong walkout at the British Library earlier this month. A source from PCS The Art Newspaper that members are facing ‘in-work poverty‘, a status that TAN clarified is ‘when a working person’s income, after housing costs, is less than 60% of the national average.’
The strike is taking place a week after Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elizabeth Lederer, painted between 1914 and 1916, sold at Sotheby’s for $236.4 million. Since the PCS vote, The Guardian also reported that the personal details of more than 100 applicants to Tate jobs, as well as those of their referees, appeared online in a leak.
On the vote for industrial action, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: ‘With many Tate directors receiving six-figure pay packages and five-figure bonuses while staff are condemned to in-work poverty, it is no wonder we have seen such an overwhelming vote for strike action.’
The PCS source talking to TAN also noted that the union ’empathises with art-lovers’ who may miss out because of the strike, but reiterated that the strike was because workers are ‘facing in-work poverty, eroded terms and conditions, and spiralling workloads following repeated restructures and below-inflation pay award.’
The action comes after PCS members rejected a proposal put forward by Tate for a 3% pay rise. The union believe this does not address ongoing pay issues, citing a recent survey that revealed just over 72% of members working at Tate don’t feel that their salary meets basic living costs.
As well as cause significant disruption at Tate Britain’s upcoming Turner and Constable show, the action will delay installation of a forthcoming exhibition at Tate St Ives, while exhibitions at Tate Liverpool and RIBA North (Homeground Ground: the Architecture of Sport and the Stirling Prize 2025 display, respectively) are temporarily closing.
PCS have encouraged further talks with Tate, with the aim of avoiding further strike action in the new year.
Image by Julian Herzog via Creative Commons (CC-BY 4.0)
