Mining museum staff to vote on extending strike

Strike action by workers at the National Coal Mining Museum in a dispute over wages could be extended until next summer, a union has said.

Members of Unison at the museum in Wakefield began their industrial action calling for higher pay on 20 August and the strike is currently due to last until 28 January, but the union said its members would be balloted on Friday over continuing the action beyond then.

Rianne Hooley, Unison regional organiser, said members would "carry on fighting for fair pay until victory is secured".

A spokesperson for the museum said its management had "engaged in ongoing negotiations", but added that "the union's firm position has made meaningful compromise challenging".

Unison said many of its members at the museum currently earned about £12.60 an hour.

Previous pay offers have been rejected by the union over concerns staff would be worse off than under an earlier proposal which was thrown out.

The union has blamed the "ongoing refusal" by the museum's management to improve its offer and "backtracking on earlier promises" for the continued action.

Ms Hooley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "If we don't get a settlement before this strike mandate ends at the end of January, our members, if they want to, can carry on on strike until the summer of 2026.

"We will carry on assembling at that picket line every morning. We will carry on fighting for fair pay until victory is secured."

Ms Hooley said that among those taking action at the museum were members who participated in the miners' strike of 1984-85.

"Our members have a long history, a proud legacy of defiance", she said.

"They will not accept injustice, they will not accept unfairness and we are going to carry on this strike.

"We are not just fighting for fair pay, we are fighting for the very survival of that museum.

"No compromise has been offered to our members. This union is going to support this strike for as long as it takes."

In a statement, a spokesperson for the museum said the latest proposal to staff included a £1 per hour increase for museum guides with specialist skills, such as electricians and fitters, alongside a 5% uplift for the wider team.

"In addition, we committed to introducing death in service benefits and conducting a full review of the staffing structure within the next 12 months," they said.

That increase "aligns with the union's original request, and is significantly higher than the 3.2% increases seen locally and nationally for 2025-26", according to the spokesperson.

They added that the museum faced "considerable financial pressures" and "any pay agreement must be sustainable to safeguard the museum's future".

"As a free-to-enter museum, we remain committed to recognising expertise, rewarding the valuable contributions of all team members and making decisions guided by fairness and affordability," the spokesperson said.

"Unfortunately, the current demands from Unison are not financially viable for the charity."

The statement added that museum management hoped to bring an end to the strike action "as soon as possible".

isten to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.