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# Tate Museums Workers Set to Strike Over "Insulting" Pay Raise
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/tate-museums-workers-set-to-strike-over-insulting-pay-raise/
- Published: 2025-11-16T21:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:06:50.000Z
- Description: Workers and union leaders say wages have not kept up with the cost of living, condemning them to “in-work poverty.”
- Author: Isa Farfan
- Tags: News, Labor, Tate, Unions, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-large, #Import 2025-11-24 09:41 (2025)

Months after the Tate Museums in England cut 7% of their workforce, citing a post-pandemic slump, workers have vowed to go on strike for a week starting November 26.

More than 150 workers at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St. Ives plan to strike over wages, citing "below-inflationary" pay raise offers over the last two years, a union spokesperson told *Hyperallergic*.

The striking staff members belong to Tate Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS Tate United), one of the three unions representing museum employees. In a ballot held on November 11, 98% of union staff members voted in favor of striking. The move comes after the museum [cut a reported 40 jobs](https://hyperallergic.com/tate-museums-cut-staff-by-7-citing-post-pandemic-deficit/) in March, attributing the downsizing to pandemic-related deficits. The strike is expected to end on December 2.

The union said in a press release that based on a recent survey, 72.2% of its members could not afford basic living costs with their salaries. The [*BBC*](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17rgd8e9gjo?ref=hyperallergic.com) reported this week that prices rose by 3.8% in the United Kingdom in 2025.

A union spokesperson rebuked the museum's 2% pay raise offer for 2024, which was later increased to 3% for 2025–2026\. According to PCS Tate United, the pay raise offer "does not address ongoing issues of low pay at the institution."

The union also said in a press release that the job cuts earlier this year led to the closure of a subsidized dining hall for staff.

"The dispute is primarily focused on pay, with the last two years seeing below-inflationary offers," a union spokesperson told *Hyperallergic* in an email. "This is in addition to a sustained period of cutbacks and restructures, with a series of voluntary redundancies, the closure of the subsidised staff canteen and the redundancies of some of the canteen staff."

In response to *Hyperallergic*'s request for comment, a Tate spokesperson said directors at the museum were not offered salary increases this year as part of institutional attempts to maintain a "balanced budget," and added that the offer of a 3% pay increase was accepted by Tate's other two unions.

"Tate has made careful savings this year in order to invest in staff pay and still achieve a balanced budget," the spokesperson said. "It is only by creating and maintaining a sustainable financial model that we can continue to invest in our staff in the long term."

Workers previously went on [strike](https://hyperallergic.com/588833/hundreds-of-artists-support-striking-tate-workers/) in 2020, when the museum announced it intended to [cut 313 jobs](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/aug/12/tate-galleries-to-make-half-of-commercial-workforce-redundant?ref=hyperallergic.com), or about half of its workforce.

“With many Tate directors receiving six-figure pay packages and five-figure bonuses while staff are condemned to in-work poverty, it is no wonder we have seen such an overwhelming vote for strike action," PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote said in a statement. “Our members have rightly rejected another insulting pay offer from senior Tate management, and now stand ready to take strike action that will severely impact gallery operations.”