STAFF at the National Museum of Scotland have walked out, starting a strike as a result of an ongoing pay dispute with management.
Workers walked out of the Museum in Edinburgh at 1.30pm yesterday and are holding an all-day strike today after they claimed talks with the management and Scottish Government have failed.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said that around 100 workers have walked out in solidarity over the museum’s decision to remove weekend working allowances.
The museum was found by a recent survey to be Scotland’s most visited attraction in the year 2014.
Alex Laurie, branch secretary for PCS, said: “Essentially the museum has created a two-tier workforce where anyone employed after 2011 doesn’t get paid the weekend working allowance that was removed from terms and conditions for new starts.
“So it means people are doing the exact same job as their colleagues but for 20 per cent less.
“For low-paid workers this amounts to about £3,000 a year which is quite a significant amount for low-paid workers. This specifically targeted the low-paid grades within the museum.”
Lynn Henderson, PCS Scottish secretary, said: “Museum management and Scottish ministers have proved to be intransigent throughout the process.
“Our members are now forced to take strike action again.”
Alison Johnstone, Scottish Green MSP for Lothian, supported calls for the weekend wage to be paid to all staff.
She said: “The National Museum is a huge asset for Edinburgh and for Scotland and it’s deeply disappointing that management are continuing to treat staff inequitably.
“Those staff not receiving the weekend working allowance will feel under pressure to find extra work to make ends meet, impacting on morale.
“Rather than bosses and the government blaming each other they should be ensuring staff get fair treatment.”
A spokesperson for National Museums Scotland said: “Like many other public sector organisations, National Museums Scotland has had to make a wide range of changes in order to manage the reduced budgets which have been a result of the financial crisis.
“These changes have included reducing staff numbers, reducing a range of budgets, constraining some services and introducing a change to some terms and conditions for staff newly appointed to ensure we could continue to operate within the funding available.
“National Museums Scotland delivers the Scottish Living Wage for all its employees. Over recent years, including the period when a public sector pay freeze was in place for the majority of staff, we have differentially increased pay levels for our lowest paid staff.
“No member of staff has received a pay cut following the introduction of new contracts
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