Tate staff stage week-long strike over 'insulting' pay increases

Staff at Tate sites in the UK are staging a seven-day strike over pay and conditions at the arts institution, with some saying they have had to resort to using food banks.

- Lanre Bakare

The strike is scheduled to run until 2 December and coincides with the opening of Tate Britain’s Turner and Constable exhibition.

Yesterday, the second day of the strike action, staff on a picket line at Tate Britain held signs that read: “Treat staff like art! Handle with care”, “Goodwill don’t pay the bills” and “Director’s bonus = my salary”. Another placard, styled as a Guardian review, read: “Tate Gallery review - a portrait of the staff in turmoil.”

At Tate Britain’s main entrance, a notice warned visitors that while the galleries were open, “some spaces may need to close at short notice”.

Staff outside said two restructures in five years, redundancies and below-inflation pay rises had badly damaged morale.