Workers at historic sites set to strike over pay
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Your support makes all the difference.Staff at Stonehenge and other historic attractions in England are to strike over pay, it was announced yesterday.
Around 500 English Heritage workers belonging to the union Prospect will stage a one-day walk out on 11 March in protest at a3.5 per cent pay award.
Most attractions are likely to stay open, however, unless workers belonging to the Public and Commercial Services union also take strike action.
Prospect said the pay offer was one of the worst for government workers, leaving staff earning 10 per cent less than other civil servants.
The negotiating officer, Steve Jary, said workers could not understand why English Heritage was taking £500,000 out of the payroll budget to spend on advertising. Managers from English Heritage pointed out that incomes from visitors suffered last year as a result of the foot-and-mouth crisis.
Management said it was waiting for the outcome of a ballot of around 500 members of the Public and Commercial Services union. A spokesman said: "We shall be considering our position in the light of both unions' responses and continue to hope that staff will choose not to take industrial action."
Prospect members voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action, which will begin with a one-day strike and include a series of days where members will not work beyond their contracted hours.
The strike will affect attractions such as Stonehenge, Dover Castle and Battle Abbey in Sussex, where curators, conservators and front-of-house staff will stop work. A few sites manned by just one employee are expected to close.
Action by Prospect building inspectors, architects and archaeologistswill delay planning applications and requests for listed building consent.
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