Museum employees balloted for strike motion in job cuts row
M
useum employees are being balloted for strike motion in a dispute over job cuts.
Unison claims that Glasgow Life is planning to chop 30% of jobs within the metropolis’s museums and collections part which incorporates venues corresponding to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and the Burrell Collection.
The jobs affected embody curators, conservators, technicians, outreach and studying assistants, collections employees and workers from pictures, editorial and design.
Unison has now notified Glasgow Life of the transfer to poll practically 70 members within the affected part from subsequent week till September 26.
It stated that with different commerce unions adopting an analogous strategy, greater than 100 employees are actually being requested to vote for strike motion.
Brian Smith, Unison Glasgow Branch Secretary, stated: “These workers are angry at how Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council are treating them, and by extension the museums loved and enjoyed by the people of Glasgow.
“A 30% cut in jobs in the museums and collections section is huge and will have a very damaging impact on how the collections are maintained, displayed and developed in the future. The loss of community outreach programmes is also unacceptable.
“Politicians should be investing in the city’s world class museums, not slashing jobs.
“Unison members are now being balloted for strike action. Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council need to listen to these workers’ concerns. The council leadership need to reverse these job cuts”.
The dispute has seen a sequence of protests outdoors a few of Glasgow’s museums and the City Chambers in latest weeks.
More protests are actually deliberate together with on September 2 on the Riverside Museum and on Saturday 16 at Kelvingrove Museum.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Life stated: “Glasgow Life’s annual service fee was cut by Glasgow City Council when the council confirmed its 2023/24 budget in February.
“This financial year, Glasgow Life has to make £7.1 million worth of savings, and the measures identified within our museums and collections service are a direct consequence of the continued pressures on public sector budgets.
“The savings we are making this year add up to around 9% of our annual service fee from the council and ensure none of our facilities will have to close.
“Wherever possible, we have identified ways of making savings by reducing, rather than losing, Glasgow Life services, programmes and events, retaining the potential to rebuild them in the future.”