Tate Modern strike by 150 staff will see disruption to major exhibitions
- maxwell museums
- Nov 13
- 2 min read
A strike at Tate Modern and Tate Britain will take place, with staff planning to walk out from 26 November to 2 December 2025.
Significant disruption is expected, including to the opening of a major exhibition on Turner and Constable that is one of the year’s most anticipated art shows.
Members of the PCS trade union at the Tate galleries have voted overwhelmingly for the strike action that's come from a dispute over pay and terms and conditions. Members voted for industrial action by a margin of 98% on a turnout of 87.72%.
Bosses have offered a 3% annual pay rise, but this is lower than the Civil Service Pay Remit — the government’s guide which tells civil service departments, agencies and related arms-length bodies how much they can spend this year on a pay award for their staff. In a recent survey, 72.2% of PCS members at the Tate said that their current salary is not enough to meet basic living costs.
Get London exhibition news sent to your inbox with my free newsletter
Over 150 staff will strike in total, from across all four Tate sites — the two in London, plus Tate Liverpool and Tate St. Ives. This means the strike action will take place as the exhibition Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals opens (its first public opening day is 27 November). Marking 250 years since their births, this landmark exhibition explores Turner and Constable's intertwined lives and legacies. It is expected to be hugely popular.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “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.
“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.”
A spokesperson for Tate said the organisation had “made careful savings this year in order to invest in staff pay and still achieve a balanced budget. This includes a 3% salary increase for most roles — including all employees on the lowest three pay bands -– while directors are taking a 0% increase to help balance the overall costs. It is only by creating and maintaining a sustainable financial model that we can continue to invest in our staff in the long term.”
The gallery enacted a restructure this year which saw around 40 redundancies across the whole organisation — it was the second restructure since 2020. There was also the closure of staff canteens at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, which offered subsidised meals.
Tate’s pay dispute follows similar strike action at the British Library, which over two weeks also caused disruption including the canceling of some events.
