Strike hits museums and art galleries

SOME of Scotland's busiest museums and galleries were closed yesterday because of a strike by staff.

Workers at Culture and Sport Glasgow staged a 24-hour strike yesterday and will go on strike again on Monday to defend pay and conditions.

About 1,600 members of the Unison, Unite, GMB and Bectu unions are fighting their employer's attempts to freeze their pay and abolish overtime payments.

All the city's museums, including the Burrell Collection and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, were shut, as were all but two libraries and most community facilities and some sports and leisure centres.

The strike follows two previous walkouts that closed museums, galleries and sport and leisure centres across the city.

Unison Glasgow branch secretary Brian Smith said: "As far as we're concerned, it is a shutdown of the services. Our members provide culture and sport services across Glasgow, and we want to defend the quality services which the people of Glasgow deserve."

No discussions are planned at the moment to avoid Monday's strike, but the unions said they hoped Culture and Sport Glasgow would be willing to talk.

Culture and Sport Glasgow, a charitable company that runs sport and leisure services in the city, said that one in seven of its 3,000 staff voted in favour of the strikes.

Since September 2009, the firm has been involved in discussions with the trade unions in an attempt to make 3.4 million of cuts in this financial year.

Bailie Liz Cameron, who chairs Culture and Sport, said: "This dispute is not about job losses. Faced with a choice between changing the way we work to reduce costs, such as overtime, or protecting jobs and services, the unions have decided to go on strike."

Culture and Sport said that its facilities would be open today and tomorrow.