Workers at the National Gallery in London began a fresh wave of strikes on Monday 20 April, over plans to privatise the museum’s visitor services. Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will be on strike until Friday 24 April and again on Friday 1 May, following 17 days of industrial action in February and March. The museum announced last year that it would outsource visitor-facing and security jobs to a private company as part of what it calls an “ongoing modernisation programme”.
The union is calling on its supporters to sign an open letter to the outgoing National Gallery director Nicholas Penny requesting that the invitation to tender—which would affect around 400 of the 600 gallery staff—be postponed until after the UK general election on 7 May, “to allow an incoming government, as well as the new director [Gabriele Finaldi], to review the situation…in the best interests of the gallery and everyone concerned”. The artist Ryan Gander and the film director Ken Loach are among those who have already signed the letter.
According to a statement on the museum’swebsite, much of the main building will remain closed until 25 April and “alarge number” of education events have been cancelled or rescheduled. Therewill be full access to the Sainsbury Wing, where the private firm CIS alreadymanages security, including the Inventing Impressionism exhibition. Thestatement says that privatisation of visitor services will allow it to “operatemore flexibly” as it plans to extend its education and events programmes.“There will be no job cuts and all terms and conditions will be protected.”