More than 150 unionized workers at Britain’s Tate museums will go on strike in protest over what the union calls “inadequate” pay raises. The Public and Commercial Services Union has announced that the staff will go on strike from November 26 to December 2.
Some 98 percent of members members who cast votes were in support of the action, with nearly 88 percent of the members casting votes. In a recent survey by the union, more than 72 percent of PCS members at Tate said their salary is insufficient to meet basic costs of living.
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Tate had already cut 40 roles, or 7 percent of its staff, in March, in response to a lingering Covid deficit; that was the second round of cutbacks since 2020, when the institution slashed more than 300 jobs at the height of the pandemic’s impact.
Tate Britain.
Courtesy DiscoA340 via Wikimedia Commons
Workers at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St. Ives were offered a salary increase of between two and three percent. The union points out that this is lower than the 3.25 percent maximum allowed by the government’s Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance, which also indicates the possibility of an extra 0.5 percent to address low pay and other issues.
“With many Tate directors receiving six-figure pay packages and five-figure bonuses while staff are condemned to in-work poverty, it is no wonder we have seen such an overwhelming vote for strike action,” said PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote. “Our members have rightly rejected another insulting pay offer from senior Tate management, and now stand ready to take strike action that will severely impact gallery operations.”
Tate director Maria Balshaw collected a salary of £221,862 ($293,064), according to the institution’s annual report for 2024–25, while managing directors Karin Hindsbo and Carmel Allen earned £174,400 ($230,370) and £161,078 ($212,773) respectively.
The strike comes as Tate Britain is gearing up for the major exhibition “Turner & Constable: Rivals & Originals,” of British masters John Constable and JMW Turner, set to open on November 27, to commemorate the 250-year anniversary of both painters’ births.
“Tate has made careful savings this year in order to invest in staff pay and still achieve a balanced budget,” a museum spokesperson told the Guardian. “This includes a 3% salary increase for most roles—including all employees on the lowest three pay bands—while directors are taking a 0% increase to help balance the overall costs. It is only by creating and maintaining a sustainable financial model that we can continue to invest in our staff in the long term.”
The museum is also working on new ways to raise funds. Chair Roland Rudd has mooted the notion of selling naming rights to Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall for a minimum of £50 million ($66 million) to fund the London institution’s new endowment fund, which it is calling the Tate Future Fund and which has a goal of raising £150 million ($198 million) by 2030.
