Iain Dalton, Socialist Party Yorkshire
As Unison members at the National Coal Mining Museum for England reach the five-month mark of their dispute over pay, they have resoundingly voted to extend the strike for a further six months if necessary.
The 92% ‘yes’ vote, on a 86% turnout, shows the strength of feeling against the insulting pay offers that management has put before them, with one offer actually being less for some workers than the offer rejected before the strike began.
Management has now made a further offer – a measly 4p-an-hour increase – but with a threat to investigate and discipline staff who have spoken out during the dispute. Unison regional organiser Rianne Hooley described the offer as “farcical”, and it was overwhelmingly rejected by a mass meeting of strikers.
Additionally, the Charity Commission has decided to investigate the museum’s governance and management. Workers have made demands for Labour’s culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, to withhold the museum’s funding in order to pressure management to resolve the dispute.
Socialist Party members have raised the need for Wakefield Council, which has already suspended its funding to the museum, to go further and seek to take over the museum. Instead of the current ‘rule or ruin’ approach of management, it could be run democratically by elected representatives of the trade unions and the wider community.
