A workers union has accused the National Coal Mining Museum (NCMM) for England of misleading its members on its ability to offer a wage increase.
According to the Wakefield District Unison branch, senior managers at NCMM told the union it could not improve a rejected pay offer, as the charity was subject to a pay cap imposed by central government.
But the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has since confirmed that the charity is “not formally subject to Cabinet Office pay guidance”.
NCMM staff completed five days of strike action at the museum last month and plan further action on 12 weekend days beginning on 12 November.
Union members have rejected the museum’s 4.2% pay offer, which was then increased by 25p an hour.
NCMM ‘not formally subject to Cabinet Office pay guidance’
Sarah Healey, the permanent secretary at DCMS, wrote to Unison last week saying that the charity is not classified as a DCMS arms-length body or a non-departmental public body, “and is therefore not formally subject to Cabinet Office pay guidance or any related conditions imposed by DCMS or central government”.
The letter does, however, note that the the museum is in receipt of public grant funding by the Science Museum Group.
Healey writes DCMS is therefore of the view that it is “entirely appropriate” for the charity “to pay regard to the principles which apply in relation to other organisations within the scope of the Cabinet Office pay guidance”.
She adds the department view is that if the trustees of the NCMM were to introduce a pay award which incurred a deficit or exposed the organisation to undue financial risk, “this could constitute a breach of their fiduciary duties, rendering them subject to possible regulatory action from the Charity Commission”.
“It is therefore appropriate that the trustees and the Science Museum Group have aligned with public sector pay guidance to guide negotiations in this dispute on pay,” Healey writes.
Sam Greenwood, Unison branch secretary, said: “We are bitterly disappointed to have been misled about the existence of a pay cap.”
The NCMM for England did not respond to request for comment.
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