On Monday June 9, 2008, archaeologists and other museum specialists at the Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS) are staging a one-day strike against the museum, in response to unacceptable wage conditions. A promised pay raise was delayed 13 months and when it arrived, it was well below current cost of living rises.
A more substantial pay raise for MoLAS is fully supported by the museum, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has refused it, citing public sector pay raises as a a significant cause of inflation. MoLAS responds by pointing to the Office of National Statistics which reports that inflation results from the rising costs of food, fuel, and travel.
MoLAS asks that people supporting the strike to either not go to the Museum of London on Monday or to fill out a comments card during your visit stating your support. You can also send a message of support to the strikers to Prospect House, 8 Leake Street, London SE1 or email it to: supportmuseumoflondonstrike@live.co.uk
More information about the strike is reported on the Past Horizons website.
Added 11 June 08: I've recently heard from Mark Merka-Richards, Head of Human Resources for the Museum of London Group, who sends this statement:
STATEMENT ON THE STRIKE AT MUSEUM OF LONDON, MUSEUM IN DOCKLANDS AND MUSEUM OF LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY SERVICE
Museum of London and Museum in Docklands will be open for visitors as usual today, Monday 9 June, despite the industrial action called by trades unions. Archaeological services are continuing and clients' project timetables will not be adversely affected.
Just 87 staff voted to take industrial action, from a total workforce of 436 and the majority of staff are expected to work as usual today.
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." [end of statement]
This suggests to me that the press release linked above overstates the support of the staff. I suspect that where the press release refers to "Striking today is not a step we have taken lightly, but 86% of us voted for today’s action," the 'us' referred to is the trade union, not the entire MoLAS staff, in which case it may be a misunderstanding on my part. The difference between "86%" as I read the press release, and the reality of only 20% of the staff supporting the strike certainly places this action in a different light.
Comments
There will be a statement from PROSPECT Union on this. However I would point out that teh 436 workers relates to all 3 groups in the Museum of London, and includes everyone from cleaner to executive. The Original press release specifically states
“..archaeologists and other museum specialists at the Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS) ”
MoLAS is one part – the archaeological part, and does not have 436 employees. The other 2 groups are under a different union.
The statement that 86% of those who voted in MoLAS voted for a strike is therefore true. This was an official ballot, and therefore legitimate, – they would not have been able to strike if there was not a clear manadate – and an 86% vote by ARCHAEOLOGISTS is just that.
Dear Kris,
Just to clear up the question of figures. Prospect – the union that represents Museum of London staff, including archaeologists at the Museum’s archaeology service MoLAS – conducted a ballot of its members for strike action. We were asked by the employer to conduct separate ballots for different parts of the Museum group – and the result was a 92% vote for strike action at the Museum of London and 86% at MoLAS. Overall, the turnout was 54%. This may seem low, but the result reflected an earlier indicative ballot held by the branch in February where 82% of those who took part voted for industrial action on a turnout of 73%.
The strike on 9 June 2008 was very successful and well-supported. I’d like to thank all those who sent messages of support. This was the first time a strike extended across the entire Museum of London group, and the first ever strike at the Museum of London Archaeology Service and the Museum in Docklands. We made our point to our own executive management and the government that below-inflation pay awards must stop and that we are prepared to take industrial action to prevent further erosion of our pay.
Picket lines were mounted at the Museum of London and the MoLAS HQ at Mortimer Wheeler House by Prospect and at the Museum in Docklands by the union PCS. Some strikers made the 200 mile round trip from the MoLAS site in Bath to attend the picket lines and rally. We were asking visitors to the museums to postpone their visit and four hundred leaflets explaining why we were striking were given out at MoL. At MoLAS HQ, extra (non-unionised) security had been contracted in to guard what was virtually an empty building.
The strike closed at least ten MoLAS sites across the capital, including three sites where the entire archaeological workforce joined Prospect. The few sites that ran did so with reduced staff numbers. To their credit, some non-union employees did not come into work while others refused to cover the work of their striking colleagues. Drinks and refreshments were brought out to the pickets on what was one of the hottest days of the year.
The importance of the strike was underlined at the 10am rally outside the main entrance of the Museum of London where Paul Noon, the Prospect General Secretary, and Graeme Henderson, a former President of Prospect and Head of the Civil Service Sector, both spoke to fifty assembled strikers. Paul Noon said he brought support for the strike from Prospect’s 105,000 members. I read out messages of support from the Science Museum (also striking that week) and British Library Prospect branches, the PCS Culture Sector Executive Committee and PCS branches at the National Museums of Scotland and Wales, English Heritage, and DCMS HQ. The archaeological job website BAJR shut down for the day in solidarity with the strike and RESCUE, the British Archaeological Trust, sent a message of support. Messages of support were also received from archaeologists and specialists from as far afield as the United States, Poland, Norway and South Africa as well as the UK. The rally was filmed by ITN and appeared on its news bulletins throughout the day.
After the rally, fifty strikers – placards in hand – commandeered a bus to Prospect House near Waterloo in South London. After a meeting there, addressed by Dai Hudd, Prospect’s Assistant General Secretary, members from our branch carried the national union’s banner across Westminster Bridge to the Trade Union Congress’s ‘Standing up for public services’ event near Parliament taking place the same day.
The TUC rally at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster was so packed with trade unionists that the main hall and overflow rooms ran out of space. Our strike was singled out for praise from the platform at the rally by Paul Noon and the General Secretary of PCS Mark Serwotka, as well as other union leaders. A MoLAS Senior Archaeologist and Prospect rep, Sadie Watson, took part in a panel of workers who explained to the audience how poverty pay has affected their lives.
At the TUC rally, we heard that there are hundreds of thousands of workers in the same boat as us, worried about housing costs, the cost of food and travel and also subject to below-inflation pay awards. Other unions are galvanising for further strike action later in the year against poverty pay – a fight for us all. After the TUC rally, many members went to the House of Commons to lobby their MPs.
As well as the ITV news and your Archaeology blog, the strike was reported on the radio throughout the day. The BBC and Channel 4 websites picked up the story, as did news agencies such as the Press Association and Reuters and the London morning newspaper Metro and other newspapers in the days following. The Morning Star covered the story two days running, with Sadie appearing on the front page of the paper on Tuesday.
Thanks again to all those who supported the strike.
- Antony Francis, Chair, Museum of London branch of Prospect union
Thanks very much for the clarification and additional information about your strike. It’s much appreciated.
Kris