Art historians take ‘legal action' against National Gallery
Gallery says it wants to change the ad hoc system of hiring experts
Friday, 7th September 2018 — By Dan Carrier
‘We were being asked to do a job we were already doing but for less pay’
TWENTY-seven art historians at the National Gallery will present a legal challenge to an employment tribunal next week in an ongoing battle over pay and conditions.
The government-funded institution has been taken to the court by the freelance workers who are bringing a joint action over plans to cut the numbers of lecturers and educators.
The gallery plans to employ a smaller team with new contracts and lower rates of pay.
Dr Richard Stemp, an expert in the Italian Renaissance period, had worked developing and delivering education pro- grammes at the gallery for 24 years.
Last October around 45 of the 65 educators, with more than 500 years of combined working time at the gallery, were asked to attend a meeting by senior management – and were given the devastating news that they would no longer be offered any work.
He said: “They said we aren’t going to employ you, but there are some staff jobs being offered if you are interested in them.”
But the meeting was shocked to hear that there were just 14 possible jobs compared to 45 usually used.
Dr Stemp said: “We were being asked to do a job we were already doing but for less pay. We discussed it and 27 of us decided we would not let them do this.”
A preliminary hearing is taking place on September 14, with a full hearing scheduled over 10 days to start at the end of November.
Dr Stemp added: “We do not want anyone to be treated like this in the future. We want our for- mer status as employees recognised. Because it was flexible and part-time, we do not believe there would be much compensation, but we just want people to be treated better. We think this may the first
time a public body is having their approach to the gig economy tested. We have seen similar cases with firms such as Uber, and we hope to win and to become a landmark victory, letting public bodies know this is not acceptable and we deserve to be treated in an ethical way.”
Some members of the team have worked at the gallery for 40 years.
He added: “It was a wonderful job – we’d work creating programmes for people of all ages. They would be from a project called Magic Carpet for toddlers to school parties, ranging from reception to A-levels.
“We’d speak to the general public on tours, we hosted lunchtime talks and courses and created out-reach projects for those who could not get to the gallery.
“The level of pay we got did not really relate to the hours we would spend, but it was fantastic job. I learned a huge amount. We know these collections even better than the curators.”
A gallery spokesman said: “The gallery has been issued with a number of different claims from a number of freelance workers who have been providing a range of different services for the gallery (and other museums and galleries across London) on an ad hoc basis for a number of years.
“It is our understanding that the claims have arisen out of the gallery’s wish to change from offering ad hoc work to offering more secure employment, with additional pension and worker benefits. This change reflects the gallery’s strategy to develop our programmes to increasingly reach new audiences and make the most of digital technology to widen our engagement.
“The entire group were consulted for their views together and individually over the change for a period of three months between October 2017 and January 2018. These jobs were offered to all of our existing freelance service providers last year.
“The gallery is not yet in receipt of the details of each complaint, but believes that we have acted both lawfully and fairly in changing our service provision to one of secure employment.”
