{"id":703660,"date":"2026-07-21T16:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/703660\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T16:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:36:08","slug":"national-galleries-of-scotland-staff-to-strike-during-edinburgh-fringe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/703660\/","title":{"rendered":"National Galleries of Scotland staff to strike during Edinburgh Fringe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Members of the PCS Union have overwhelmingly voted in favour of walkouts in August over \u201cdetrimental changes\u201d to working practices for Gallery Attendants, it has emerged.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The union has argued that gallery staff in the Security and Visitor Experience team have raised \u201cmajor concerns\u201d over a number of issues.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Concerns outlined by staff include the new minimum staffing level requirements, which they claim pose serious concerns over health and safety.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/news\/26299260.ibrox-chaos-review-says-union-bears-green-brigade-like-organised-crime-groups\/?ref=ed_latest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ibrox chaos review says Union Bears and Green Brigade &#8216;like organised crime groups&#8217;<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  They also state the proposed changes threaten the quality of experience for visitors and would result in frequent room and floor closures of exhibitions.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The union said the National Galleries of Scotland failed to consult staff over the changes and have justified their actions under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/topics\/scottish-government\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Scottish Government<\/a>&#8216;s Public Service Reform Strategy.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  PCS believes that this is the first of many attacks on workers as part of the Government&#8217;s cuts agenda.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"(Jane Barlow\/PA)\"\/>Staff at the National Galleries of Scotland are set to walk out during the Edinburgh Fringe nest month (Image: Jane Barlow\/PA)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  PCS Scotland national officer, Ruby Gibson, said she believes that the decision is the first of \u201cmany attacks on workers as part of the Government&#8217;s cuts agenda\u201d.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She said: \u201cThis ballot result is a clear message to NGS management that our members will not allow damaging changes to be imposed upon them.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThis situation exposes the reality of Ivan McKee\u2019s Public Service Reform strategy for what it is \u2013 more cuts to public services with no regard for the workforce.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cWhile the government are full of rhetoric about &#8216;consulting the workforce&#8217;, the reality is that highly paid and unaccountable senior leaders are charging ahead, cutting service delivery with complete disregard for the people who do the actual work.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cPCS will not allow the government\u2019s plans for Public Service Reform to act as a smokescreen for attacks on jobs and conditions.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/news\/26298847.scotland-facing-another-heatwave-met-office-gives-verdict\/?ref=ed_recent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Is Scotland facing another heatwave? Met Office gives its verdict<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  PCS is the largest civil service union and represents 27,000 workers across Scotland.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The union said there was an 81% turnout and 80% voting in favour of strike action.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Dates for the walkouts have yet to be revealed.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  National Galleries of Scotland has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of the PCS Union have overwhelmingly voted in favour of walkouts in August over \u201cdetrimental changes\u201d to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-703660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}