The second of a series of five-day strikes by PCS workers at the National Gallery ended on 26 February with management on the defensive as public support for the in-house staff mounts. No doubt their suspension of a union rep for questioning the cost of private security has not enhanced its image. It has simply dug itself into a deeper hole.
The board put out a misleading notice about rosters and pay which can only have bemused those visitors who bothered to turn up. Most rooms at the gallery were closed, except for the Sainsbury Wing where CIS security effectively acted as a strike-breaking force.
‘As public servants they should be treated with respect, not sackings.’
One of the most telling points made by PCS is that many of the National Gallery staff have art or art-history qualifications. In that respect they differ qualitatively from guards trained as bouncers or to secure empty buildings. They cannot simply be transferred over to work for a security firm under TUPE. Speaking in a meeting in parliament on 10 February, PCS leader Mark Serwotka said that as public servants they should be treated with respect, not sackings.
As you would expect from artistic people, the strikers exhibited some creative placards and posters, such as a reproduction of the famous Van Gogh chair with the heading: “We’e not going to take this sitting down”. They know that management assurances about jobs and pay count for nothing, to judge by the experience of some of the smaller galleries – and even the Tate, where privatisation has resulted in zero hours contracts and loss of sick pay.
Talks at ACAS are suspended pending the reinstatement of the PCS member. It is becoming more obvious by the day that the board is bungling this dispute, and that it lacks a coherent plan for implementation of new working patterns. That explains why it is handing over responsibility to an “external partner”, as it euphemistically puts it.
The board’s failure is the union’s opportunity. Staff not only care about the National Gallery – they are taking responsibility by putting forward proposals at ACAS for the running of it, as soon as they are allowed to do so.
Dulwich dispute
Meanwhile, a dispute has started up at Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London. This small not-for-profit gallery houses rare old masters and is staffed by an art-loving team threatened with redundancies. In struggle for the first time, they have recognised that the government’s obsession with “the deficit” is a smokescreen for privatisation by cutting public services.
This all comes against a background of increasing interest in the nation’s arts and culture, with the launch on 17 February of the Warwick Commission Report on the future of the arts in Britain and the BBC's “Get Creative” campaign.