Pigeons, pickets and pay demands

Rob Owen and Monty Rumbold report on the mass picket by London Museum workers.

The first day of strike action by London Museum (formerly Museum of London) workers saw over 80 members join a cheerful and optimistic picket of the main docklands site. Workers are striking against 15 years of under inflation pay deals and fighting for a process of pay restoration after the imposition of a delayed below-inflation pay rise of 1% for most workers.

Museum workers described a gradual erosion of pay and increase in workload that will be familiar to many. They spoke of their frustration at management’s approach to recent pay negotiations which, despite beginning in April of last year, did not see management table an offer until September. For many, the strike was about sending a ‘warning shot’ to management showing that they had ‘to be treated like adults’ in the round of pay negotiations starting in a few months.

Relocation and action short of strike

The London Museum is currently moving from its second site to a new building in Smithfield Market. There was a widespread feeling that the move provides the workers with a strong point of leverage. More than one striker spoke of the museum’s dependence on specialised conservation, curatorial and technical workers to move the collection to its new location and the additional hours this would entail. The ‘action short of strike’ starting from today is focused on unpaid overtime and designed to use the time-sensitive relocation to build pressure on management. The specialised curatorial and conservation workers the relocation process relies upon represent some of the highest areas of union density within the branch.

Pigeon poop & pride

In every discussion it was clear that workers liked their jobs and felt a sense of pride over the collections they manage and display but felt that the cuts to pay and conditions were making their roles increasingly challenging. Many joked about the money spent rebranding the museum and the symbolism of the glittering pigeon poo adorning the new logo. Longer standing workers spoke of the changes in staffing over time with gradual reductions in the number of more senior, non-management, roles such as senior curator reducing prospects for progression amongst newer staff and increasing turn over. 

Dynamics of the strike

The strikers included many who were experiencing their first taste of industrial action and the scale of the action lent the picket a confident and enthusiastic tone. A smaller number of more experienced staff brought a memory of past disputes and collective action that the strike was making more widespread. While the strike was large, loud and confident it was not sufficient to shut the site with managers and agency staff covering front of house roles and agency staff brought in to undermine the strike’s impact. Support for, and confidence, in the strike was high but there was no identifiable argument for escalating the action to take full advantage of the time-limited opportunity afforded by the museum’s relocation. 

Prospect is a union that tends to avoid industrial disputes, so this action is highly significant. It comes in the wake of recent strikes at both the Tate Galleries and the British Library, where Prospect members defected to the striking PCS branches. The terms of the dispute seemed to be largely in the hands of the Prospect officials with the demand ‘for an above-inflation pay rise and a fair settlement’ stressing ‘reasonableness’ rather than raising the expectations and ambition of the workers to campaign for genuine pay restoration. Prospect officials were wary of outside influences which could spark discussion around the strategy of the dispute. Officials questioned the presence of solidarity visitors from other unions and overruled local reps to exclude a speaker from rank and file cross-union network ‘Artists and Culture Workers LDN’ from addressing the rally.

Wider significance

Today’s action demonstrated that the underlying issues and mood that led to the public sector strike wave of 2023 can still be felt across a huge number of workplaces. With major unions like the NEU gearing up for national strike ballots the strike at the London Museum could be a sign of things to come.