National Museums Liverpool said it is facing a £2m shortfall, making it "impossible" to pay employees the £1,500 payment agreed on by the Cabinet Office for all civil servants.
More than 200 staff from National Museums Liverpool (NML) will strike for two months starting on17 February in a dispute over a withheld cost-of-living payment.
A resounding 94% of NML employees balloted by Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union backed a walkout during a 28-day vote across NML’s seven sites.
The union says NML is the only government employer to not pay an agreed £1,500 cost-of-living payment to its staff. The government introduced the retrospective payment for civil servants as part of a pay deal for 2022-2023 following a campaign by PCS to help its members cope with soaring inflation.
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PCS has said the action is likely to affect the Museum of Liverpool, World Museum, International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum, Walker Art Gallery, Sudley House and Wirral's Lady Lever Art Gallery.
NML has previously said the Cabinet Office's decision to award the cost-of-living payment was unexpected and not budgeted for when the ballot was announced in December.
Last July, a scheduled six-day strike by PCS members at the British Museum was called off after management agreed to a pay deal including a cost-of-living payment exceeding £1,500.
“NML describes itself as ‘trustworthy, respectful and inclusive’, but there’s nothing trustworthy or respectful about being the only government employer not to pay its staff the cost-of-living crisis payment," said PSC Union General Secretary Fran Heathcote.
“Our members at NML work just as hard as our members elsewhere, so why are they not receiving the same rewards?
“NML can stop these strikes before they start by doing the decent thing to their staff and paying them what they deserve.”
Casey Burgess, NML PCS Branch Chair, added: "The action we're taking means a lot to our members. They have endeavoured to keep Liverpool's fascinating stories alive through a cost-of-living crisis after working through a global pandemic.
“We'll keep fighting to make sure that we're paid fairly for our work.”
NML's response
In a statement, NML said that it was facing a forecasted financial deficit of £2m and that honouring the payment would add an additional £750k to that shortfall.
The charity said that the pressures of the economic crisis meant it would be "impossible" to cover the £1,500 cost of living payment agreed by the Cabinet Office for all civil servants, on top of the pay awards it had already given. It said of its employees who are PCS members 90% are in receipt of between a 30% and 11% pay increase over four years.
It added that as an organisation, it has "pay freedom, meaning we are not governed by the civil service pay remit. This also means that NML staff are not civil servants, and we, therefore, didn’t receive any additional funding to cover the payment, unlike some arms-length government bodies".
NML said that while it "greatly values" its staff, and "understands the importance of fair remuneration for the hard work and dedication they give to the organisation" it was "disappointed" with the outcome of the PCS ballot.
NML said: "We have reached out to them numerous times over the past month to engage in discussions, but they have only just responded to our request. We plan to meet with PCS this week and remain hopeful of a resolution."
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