Royal Society of Arts faces first strike action

The charity has over 30,000 global members who pay an annual fee of £198

Royal Society of Arts (RSA) staff have voted to strike for the first time in the charity's history after a £1,000 pay rise was rejected.

The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) says staff will engage in negotiations again if a new pay offer is proposed.

The charity is over 260 years old and previous members include Charles Dickens, Karl Marx and Nelson Mandela.

The RSA says it is "very disappointed" that strike action has been suggested.

It added that "discussions about pay were still ongoing and we had promised to revisit the issue this month".

According to the IWGB, there were five rounds of failed negotiations with management before 93% of union members voted in favour of strike action.

'Bad-faith negotiations'

Staff have asked for a flat pay rise of £2,800 for every employee part of the union's bargaining unit. Management has so far offered a £1,000 pay rise, which averages to a 2.5% annual increase in salary.

The IWBG said negotiations were entered into "in bad faith" by RSA bosses, who "refuse to move from their initial pay offer".

It added that the "relationship with management has further deteriorated over this process", and said "members of the leadership team choose to use intimidatory tactics to divide and demoralise the workforce".

The IWBG told the BBC that some of its members had reported being unprofessionally treated as a result of their union membership, although the RSA says "no staff have reported a detriment due to union membership".

'World-leading ideas'

An unofficial list, gathered by RSA staff members shows that between March 2022 and August 2023, about 80 people of a 120-person workforce had left the charity.

RSA management says some of these people may have been temporary staff and associates or people on fixed-term contracts that came to an end.

It added that from March 2023 to August 2023, 21 members of the team left, "which is not 'high' but in fact quite usual for organisations of the RSA's size and sector".

The RSA, which describes itself as a place "where world-leading ideas are turned into world-changing actions", currently has reserves of £32m, of which £9m is unrestricted and not tied up in specific funding programmes or assets.

The IWGB says some of this money could be spent on paying staff more.

A recent charity report shows the number of employees who earn £60,000 or more increased from eight in 2022 to 11 in 2023.

Industrial action will take place on 19 and 21 September. These dates coincide with an RSA awards ceremony featuring its president Princess Anne.

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