Phantom pay cap haunts National Coal Mining Museum staff following strike

UNISON members at the National Coal Mining Museum in Wakefield say they have disproved bosses claim of a government imposed pay cap following a five day strike at the attraction last week.

Senior managers at the museum told Unison they were unable to offer a pay rise due to a government imposed pay cap in response to the strike.

A statement on the museum's website says: “The sum of the proposal takes us to the maximum allowed within the Government Pay Remit.”

But Unison has since contacted the Department for Culture, Media and Sport which confirmed that the pay cap does not apply to the museum.

Sam Greenwood, Unison Wakefield Branch Secretary, said: “We are bitterly disappointed to have been misled about the existence of a pay cap.

“We asked the museum to contact the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to confirm the pay cap applied to them but they refused to do so.

“More than 40 of our members have been on strike for a week based on incorrect information from the museum and the museum has now lost income during a busy half term holiday."

Unison representatives have written to the museum's Board of Trustees expressing concerns in order to try and help resolve the dispute.

Unison has warned of an extra 12 days of strike action if the dispute cannot be resolved.

Mr Greenwood added: “It really is down to the museum to put this right.”