[olympiaworkers] Strike for the living wage at the national gallery (UK)

libcom.org May 13 2010

Staff at the National Gallery in London have struck for the second time
this year to demand the London living wage.

200 staff were involved in the two-hour walkout which began at 1.00pm
today, and which closed a large number of rooms in the gallery.

The workers are demanding that their pay is raised to the level of the
London living wage - currently £7.60 an hour. Both the Tory mayor of
London Boris Johnson and new Prime Minister David Cameron have claimed to
be supporters of the higher minimum wage, which is supposed to reflect the
higher cost of living in London. The PCS union, which represents the
strikers, have described the walkout of an "early test" of this
commitment. Meanwhile the gallery has cited budget constraints and a
climate of public sector fiscal austerity as the rationale for continuing
low pay.

100 workers walked out in Febuary over the same issue.