Protesters march to save jobs at Tate

By Melissa Kasule

The revolution will be painted, it looks like.

Gallery visitors got a surprise when they visited the Tate Modern last week – the approach was lined up with decorative banners in support of staff who are at risk of losing their jobs.

The re-opening of the Tate Modern in Southwark, on Monday, July 27 did not go as smooth-sailing as anticipated after visitors were met with chants of “Save our jobs” and “Coronavirus – no excuse to fire us”.

Protesters gathered outside the gallery in response to plans to make more than 200 staff redundant across all Tate sites in the midst of the pandemic.

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) claimed many of those who face job losses were amongst the lowest-paid staff and work in some of the most diverse teams across the Tate.

Banners with messages such as “Value all culture workers” were held in solidarity with the art gallery’s workers.

The PCS has demanded the government bailout money must be used to protect jobs and asked in the height of the Black Lives Matter movement that the Tate appreciate its diverse workforce as well as its integral role in promoting art and culture.

A statement from the PCS said: “Culture sector workers are an intrinsic part of these institutions and contribute enormously to the fabric of culture and heritage in the UK.

“We are asking the Tate for an investment of just 10 per cent of the additional money to save hundreds of jobs at Tate Enterprise, protect the poorest-paid staff, and invest in their most diverse teams.

“This would be a good start in showing that black lives, and black and minority ethnic workers, truly matter to the Tate.”

A spokeswoman for Tate Modern said: “Tate is almost unique in choosing to run its catering and retail activities through a commercial subsidiary, Tate Enterprises Ltd: most museums outsource these activities to other companies.

“New regulations and social distancing guidelines will impact the ability to operate retail and catering outlets in the same way as before, and there will be an inevitable drop in visitors in the coming months.

“We in Tate Enterprises Ltd are therefore having to make the difficult decisions that many businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors now face and have begun a collective consultation to restructure the business.

“Tate Gallery has already allocated £5 million from its reserves to support the business throughout lockdown, and this financial year, which has enabled us to top up salaries to 100% and retain staff during this difficult period.

“In order to reduce losses once the galleries reopen, and to resize in line with expected demand in the longer term, we have entered a period of collective consultation with our staff.

“We are working hard to retain as many of these staff as possible and have modelled as optimistically as we can with a view to ensuring the long term future of the business.

“This consultation is across all areas of Tate Enterprises Ltd and affects all levels of staff. Our aim is to be as supportive to our colleagues as possible in the circumstances.

“As the period of collective consultation is ongoing, we cannot give any specifics as we don’t yet know the outcomes.

“The Government funding, recently announced, is welcome news for the museum sector, but we do not expect any of these funds to be allocated to Tate Enterprises Ltd, particularly in light of support already received.

“The restructure will affect all levels of staff in Tate Enterprises Ltd. Although we do not know the outcome of the restructure – we are in the consultation stage and have not begun the selection process – it is likely that the diversity of staff across Tate Enterprises Ltd will remain broadly the same.

“We have undertaken Equality Impact Assessments across Tate Enterprises and mitigating any impact on the diversity of the organisation is an important part of the process.”

Pictured top: Protesters outside the Tate Modern in Southwark