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National Gallery staff launch indefinite strike | National Gallery staff launch indefinite strike |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Workers at the National Gallery are going on indefinite strike in a long-running dispute over privatisation. | Workers at the National Gallery are going on indefinite strike in a long-running dispute over privatisation. |
Members of the Public and Commercial Services union at the gallery, in London, have staged a series of walkouts in recent months in protest at visitor services, including security, being privatised. The dispute worsened when a union rep, Candy Udwin, was sacked. | |
Related: Support the National Gallery strikes while they’re still legal | Polly Toynbee | Related: Support the National Gallery strikes while they’re still legal | Polly Toynbee |
Picket lines were mounted outside the gallery in Trafalgar Square on Tuesday to launch the action. | |
The Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn sent a message of support: “National Gallery workers have been forced to take this action because of the intransigence of management. These low-paid workers are proud public servants and don’t want their jobs sold off. | |
“The management of the National Gallery must reinstate Candy Udwin and call off plans to privatise the staff who look after our cultural assets. I urge the incoming director Gabriele Finaldi to meet with the union and resolve this dispute.” | “The management of the National Gallery must reinstate Candy Udwin and call off plans to privatise the staff who look after our cultural assets. I urge the incoming director Gabriele Finaldi to meet with the union and resolve this dispute.” |
PCS’s general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: “We had asked the new director to step in to resolve this dispute before taking over but now his first week will be greeted by a continuous strike. We remain ready to negotiate. | |
“We do not believe this privatisation is in any way necessary and we fear for the reputation the gallery rightly enjoys around the world as one of our country’s greatest cultural assets.” | “We do not believe this privatisation is in any way necessary and we fear for the reputation the gallery rightly enjoys around the world as one of our country’s greatest cultural assets.” |
The gallery has insisted no jobs will be lost. | The gallery has insisted no jobs will be lost. |
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