Heritage staff stage walk-out in

Submitted by PaulM on Wednesday, 22 June 2005 Page Views: 1840

Staff at Yorkshire tourist attractions joined yesterday's national walkouts by English Heritage staff. Custodians at Clifford's Tower in York were among the workers taking strike action in protest at an imposed pay offer they say is worth 1.5 per cent. Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) and Prospect chose yesterday's summer solstice to launch their strike action, starting a day of staged walkouts at Stonehenge at 4.20am.

Workers in Northern England, including the Yorkshire region, went on strike between 10am and noon, with a further two-hour stoppage in the South during the afternoon. English Heritage offices were also affected.
Garry Corbett, section chairman for Prospect North, joined English Heritage staff on the picket line at Clifford's Tower.

Mr Corbett said union members were frustrated and felt that they had no option but to take industrial action. He said more walkouts could follow, depending on the reaction to yesterday's protest.

Clifford's Tower remained open during the protests but visitors were encouraged to return after it had ended.

PCS negotiations officer Catherine Craig said any inconvenience caused to visitors was regrettable.
"English Heritage boasts that no-one does more for heritage, however no-one appears to do less for its staff," she said.

"Some of our members are on as little as £12,000 per year and with this derisory pay offer their situation will only improve by 50p per day."

English Heritage had said it did not expect to have to close any of its sites.

The protest did not stop traditional summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, where up to 21,000 people gathered amid beating drums to greet the sunrise over Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.

All-night festivities at the ancient stone circle passed relatively peacefully, with Wiltshire Police making a handful of arrests, mainly for drink-related offences.
English Heritage has opened the site to the public free of charge for the summer solstice since 2000.

Source: Yorkshire Post Today 22 June 2005

Contributor Bio for PaulM: Based in Macclesfield, contributing since 2002. Favourite site: Hordron Edge. Occupation: Something in waste and recycling.

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