Staff at the National Coal Mining Museum have called off further industrial action after being offered a 10.5 per cent pay increase.
NCM employees had rejected an initial 4.2 per cent offer and threatened to strike before Christmas, but yesterday agreed a deal arranged with help from the arbitration service Acas.
The rise will be applied pro rata for part-time staff.
The improved offer was agreed despite a highly unusual intervention by government officials, who have no direct power over the charity’s funding yet last month advised trustees that a higher pay settlement could pose “undue financial risk” for the NCM.
The union Unison said the new deal, which will affect more than 100 members of staff, was achieved after employees “took a stand” against managers.
In October, Unison accused the charity’s trustees of misleading staff after claiming that government spending rules prevented them from increasing their first pay offer.
A letter to the union from the most senior civil servant at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport subsequently confirmed that the museum was not subject to any government guidance on pay.
But Sarah Healey, permanent secretary at DCMS, also said the 4.2 per cent offer was “appropriate” given that the charity must avoid “undue financial risk”.
Sam Greenwood, secretary of the Unison branch in Wakefield, where the NCM is based, said: “Museum staff took a stand and have achieved a wage rise that goes some way towards helping them through the cost-of-living crisis.
“Thankfully now the museum and its employees can continue with their amazing work sharing the story of the region’s substantial coal mining heritage for future generations to better understand and enjoy.”
The NCM executive team said in a statement: “The museum can confirm that [it has agreed] a flat rate increase of £1,650 consolidated per full-time equivalent employee or at least a 3 per cent increase on salary, whichever is the greater.
“Plus a non-consolidated one-off cost-of-living payment of £350 to all staff has been agreed.”
A DCMS spokesperson said: “Decisions relating to staffing and pay are taken by trustees of museums, independently of the government.”