Flagship Glasgow museums close as staff strike

The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is closed for a second day

Two of Scotland's most popular museums have closed as staff take strike action over planned job cuts.

The award-winning Burrell Collection in Glasgow's Pollok Park closed on Tuesday, as well as the Kevingrove Museum in the west end of the city, which was also shut on Monday.

Other Glasgow museums and galleries face possible closures later this week over the dispute which proposes cuts to specialist roles such as gallery curators and conservators - who protect items in the museums.

Glasgow Life, which runs the city's museums, said it had to make £7.1m of savings.

Unison, the union representing staff on strike, warned that cutting the number of conservators could cause a "high-profile accident" and valuable collection pieces could be damaged.

"Collections do not look after themselves," a union spokesperson said.

New plans will reduce the Special Collections team, in the Mitchell Library, to one person to care and repair for 1.8 million objects, Unison said.

"Deep cleaning of display venues by specialist Conservation staff will greatly reduce or completely disappear.

"World-class textiles at the Burrell Collection, taxidermy specimens at Kelvingrove and other vulnerable organic objects will be at particular risk of pest damage without regular, vigilant cleaning by highly-trained specialists."

A museum conservator at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

The entire Glasgow museum collection is worth more than £1.4bn, with millions of objects on display and in archives.

Glasgow Life, an arms-length organisation which runs the city's art, leisure and culture sector, said it received 80% of its budget from Glasgow City Council.

It said £7.1m worth of savings had to be made because of a £50m council budget deficit.

Unison has been in talks with Glasgow Life over proposed cuts for the past month.

Unison members on Tuesday at The Burrell Collection in Glasgow's Pollok Park

High-profile events

Brian Smith, Unison Glasgow secretary, said: "These workers are taking a stand to defend both themselves and the city’s world-class museums. They deserve support."

Glasgow's museums have hosted high-profile events this year, such as the Mary Quant fashion exhibition at Kelvingrove and Banksy’s Cut and Run exhibition.

The Burrell Collection in Pollok Park also won the award of Art Fund Museum of the Year.

"These are just some of the successes Glasgow Museums have delivered this year," Unison said. "The very staff that helped deliver these successes are now under threat of losing their jobs."

A recent exhibition in Glasgow explored Dame Mary Quant's impact in fashion

Glasgow Life said senior museums officers had met Unison to discuss the impacts of the planned staff cuts within the museums service.

It said cutting 38 jobs would save £1.5m.

Glasgow Life said: “We recognise how valued our museums and collections are to Glasgow’s communities and the city’s international profile, and we understand the concern any changes may cause.

"Wherever possible, we have identified ways of making savings by reducing, rather than losing Glasgow Life services programmes, and events; retaining the potential to rebuild them in the future.

"However, we have been saying for some time now that the savings we are making this year add up to around 9% of our annual service fee from the Council and ensure none of our facilities will have to close."

Glasgow Life apologised for any inconvenience and said it would post further updates on closures on its website and social media channels.

The city's museums will reopen as normal on Saturday 28 October.