A determination to win sees the start of another week of strike action, reports Pete Webster

On Monday, it was impossible for British Library managers to ignore the enthusiastic picket outside the staff entrance as carnivalesque music, vuvuzelas and near-continuous honks from supportive passing drivers saw a huge and lively turnout for the third week of action by strikers.

Over 300 PCS members working at the British Library are on strike from Monday 8 to Friday 12 December in their ongoing dispute over pay and follows two previous strikes in October and November.

They are asking for an above-inflation pay rise to rectify a shortfall in last year’s paltry offer and an end to non-payment of alternative working patterns (AWP) for security staff on a four-day week working pattern.

Staff confidence in management is at an all-time low. A cyber-attack in 2023 led to personal staff data being published on the web and seriously disrupted the Library’s digital archives. There has been no compensation for the former and public access, including for researchers, to the collections remain problematic. As a result, members’ workloads have more than doubled through additional responsibilities, increased frustration from service users and with inadequate support from management.

Management chaos continued when the newly-appointed Chief Executive quit unexpectedly after only ten months in the role and this has also helped to undermine its reputation as a prestigious world-renowned institution. It must be bad when even the pro-establishment Sunday Times described senior management’s attitude as ‘Disastrous, Dysfunctional And Demoralising’.

Negotiations with the acting CEO and senior managers last week ended in deadlock despite a minimal increase in pay that was unanimously rejected by the workforce at a mass meeting.

Addressing the picket, Branch Chair Nick said it was important to keep the action going as the strike was having a major impact. He continued, ‘All the Reading Rooms are closed. So what have we got now? A library with no books. With no readers. No digital content. No front-facing staff. And [a management] with absolutely no clue!’

To add insult to injury, the latest edition of the Library’s wellbeing newsletter, In the Pink, had made a number of suggestions to staff regarding Christmas. These included ‘Consider having a conversation with loved ones about the cost-of-living crisis and propose that you mutually skip giving presents this year and instead propose spending some quality time together.’ Nick said ‘They are telling us to cancel Christmas!’

British Library executives take home between £80-170k per annum with some receiving ‘bonuses’ ranging from £10-15k, so don’t need follow that advice.

The TUC’s Tom Taylor, LESE Creative and Leisure Industries, said that the ‘cultural sector in the country brings in so much money for the Exchequer that it dwarfs the energy industry and the aerospace industry combined. A fraction would be enough to give all culture sector workers a decent living wage.’

Visit the picket to show your solidarity from 8am-12 noon daily, Midland Road entrance.

Share messages of solidarity on social media using the hashtag #BritishLibraryOnStrike and strike fund donations here.