Former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn joined striking British Library workers on Wednesday morning as their pay dispute entered its third day.
The strikes, organised by the British Library branch of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), are demanding an increased pay offer in line with inflation — with picketing by over 300 members expected to last until 9 November.
PCS has stated an initial pay award of 2%, proposed by library management, was increased to 2.4% — which it says is still beneath inflation rates.
Chair of the PCS British Library branch Nick Alen, 39, said: “We’re struggling to pay our bills — members are having to work second jobs in the evening after their full-time job.
“Working class people are starting to be pushed out of cultural institutions like the British Library because we can simply no longer afford to work in them.”
On Wednesday, striking workers were joined outside the library building in St. Pancras by Corbyn, the independent MP for nearby Islington North.
Corbyn offered his strong support to the striking workers and stated he would endeavour to raise their pay issue in parliament, Alen said.
The library is a publicly-funded institution founded by an act of parliament in 1973, now sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
It holds millions of books, maps, and documents, including two copies of the Magna Carta.
Alen said: “The British Library is one of the jewels in the crown of this country.
“The fact that staff are not paid appropriately at our national library is scandalous.”
Strikes are set to disrupt the opening of a new exhibition titled Secret Maps, and they have also been staged to coincide with the two-year anniversary of a cyber attack in October 2023, from which the library says it is still recovering.
PCS has said the attack saw staff members’ personal data leaked onto the dark web.
Michael Connolly, 58, branch secretary of PCS British Library, said: “Following the cyber attack, we have been made to improvise and go further in our workloads.
“We’re here to send a message to management that they must improve their pay offer — which has been abysmal for the last couple years.”
Connolly felt it was ‘marvellous’ that MP’s such as Corbyn and former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell had made an appearance, saying it had boosted the morale of workers.
However, he noted the absence of Sir Keir Starmer — whose constituency of Holborn and St Pancras is home to the British Library.
Connolly said: “It’s a great sadness that Keir Starmer is not supporting us today.
“And it’s a great shame, not just for him but for this national institution.”
Nigel Green, 70, who has been a PCS member for 46 years, said: “The buck stops with the government.”
The strikes have led nine of the eleven reading rooms at the library to be closed on Monday and Tuesday, workers said.
Library employee and PCS member Johnathan said: “I love my job here. I think it’s an amazing institution.
“But I think it’s important you pay the people who make it that institution fairly.”
The PCS says its members at the four Tate gallery sites in London, Liverpool and Cornwall are currently balloting on whether to strike over pay.
Chair of the British Library PCS branch Alen said: “We’re waiting on the employer to come back to us with a better offer.
“We’re here, we’re not going anywhere. And we will wait for them to come back to us.”
A British Library spokesperson said it is aware of planned strike action until 9 November and plans to keep all of its buildings open with opening hours unchanged.
They added: “We will be operating a reduced service and there may be significant disruption and reading room closures at short notice.”
For more information, visit the British Library’s website.
Featured image credit: Amelia M, PCS organiser
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