How to support Tate strikers

Between Wednesday 26 November and Tuesday 2 December, over 150 members will walk out from Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate Modern, Tate St Ives, and Tate Stores. 

The dispute centres on the Tate's failure to offer an above-inflation pay rise for a second consecutive year – amounting to a real terms pay cut. 

In an astounding result for PCS, a recent ballot returned a turnout of 87.7 per cent, with an overwhelming 98 per cent voting in favour of strike action. 

Since PCS announced its intention to ballot members for strike, membership has also continued to increase across all sites. 

While the crux of the dispute concerns pay, workers also feel aggrieved about the continued cuts to terms and conditions over the past five years including:

• In 2020, Tate announced plans to cut 120 gallery jobs in a £4.8m cost-cutting drive - only months after making 295 redundancies across its commercial enterprises.
• In 2021, Tate withdrew access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme for new starters, replacing it with a plan offering significantly weaker terms, a clear departure from the public-sector standards it once upheld.
• In 2024, staff were offered a below-inflation pay offer of 2.2% with an additional £500 for bands 1-5 who fall below the enhanced pay threshold. Comparatively, Tate’s highest paid directors at the Tate received total remuneration packages ranging from £195,000 to £320,000, including one bonus that exceeded £28,000.
• In 2025, staff have undergone another restructure, resulting in redundancies, the closure of staff canteens, and the scrapping of subsidised lunches for workers.

In a recent survey by PCS, members reported low morale in the workplace. As one member shared: “After a year of redundancies (voluntary and involuntary), budget cuts, and many of us on fixed-term contracts being left in limbo, morale is at an all-time low across my team. I don’t feel that Tate cares about its staff, only its finances, and it makes it very hard to feel motivated to do our difficult and demanding jobs.”

In the same survey, 72.2 per cent of respondents reported that their current salary was not sufficient to meet basic living costs, with a further 17.8 per cent reporting it ‘just about’ met their needs. One PCS member reported that it is “hard living with the bare minimum not knowing if you’ll make it to the end of the month with any money left to pay bills or even food”. Members of the public can show their solidarity with striking Tate workers by:

• Refusing to cross the picket line for the whole strike period;
• Joining one of the many picket lines at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and Tate Liverpool;
• Showing support for the strike on social media using the hashtag #TateOnStrike;
• Encouraging speakers across Tate Galleries to withdraw from events in solidarity with striking workers; and
• Donating to PCS’ strike fund.

Details of the picket timings at Tate Britain and Tate Modern can be found on the branch’s Instagram page – with most pickets occurring everyday between 8:30am and 12, midday.