Strike action suspended at Welsh National Library and Museums

Almost 300 Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru) and at Museum Wales’ (Amgueddfa Cymru) seven sites were set to strike for five days, from 7 to 11 August 2023, over their employers’ failure to pay a £1,500 cost-of-living payment.

Following the agreement by the Welsh Government to make a £1,500 cost-of-living payment to all of its staff, the Director of Corporate Services wrote to Welsh arms-length bodies such as the National Library and Museum Wales to ask them to follow suit. They initially failed to commit to making the payment.

But following the threat of action, Museum Wales and the National Library of Wales have agreed to pay the £1,500.

The Library has made a commitment to pay the full amount to all staff regardless of working hours. PCS expects Museum Wales to do the same but further discussions will take place in the coming days, with the hope of securing this guarantee to meet the needs of all PCS members.

In recent weeks, threats of strikes at the British Museum and Care Quality Commission have also overturned those employers’ decisions to withhold the £1,500 sum recommended by the Welsh and UK government.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said:

“I am pleased that the willingness of our members to take action has concentrated minds and that Museum Wales and the National Library of Wales have now confirmed that they will make the cost-of-living payment that our members so desperately need.

“This achievement by members in Museums Wales and the National Library of Wales comes as result of their determination and resilience, and puts the lump sum in their pockets now.”

“They have powerfully demonstrated to employers across the UK that any refusal to agree to this lump sum will not be tolerated by PCS members.”