British Library strikers show bosses they are ‘not to be messed with’

A picket line outside the British Library (Picture: PCS / X)

Over 300 workers at the British Library were on strike every day this week over pay and conditions. The strikers, who are members of the PCS union, closed all eleven public reading rooms.

This round of action comes after two weeks of action in October and November. During this, the Library’s CEO Rebecca Lawrence left suddenly.

The chaotic management is so bad that The Times newspaper called them “disastrous, dysfunctional and demoralising” this week.

Last year Labour promised an average 5 percent pay raise for all civil service and public sector workers. But the library bosses awarded just 3 percent.

Nick, the chair of the library union branch, explained to Socialist Worker that the bosses “basically stole our wages last year”.

Workers are demanding restoration of this pay, as well as an inflation-proof pay raise.

Some workers have been forced to turn to foodbanks and second jobs to survive. In response, management insultingly suggested people skip Christmas presents this year.

“It’s been a really tough the last few years,” Nick explained. “We’ve been left to bear the brunt of a cyber-attack in October 2023.”

The cyber-attack took out the library’s catalogues, leaving management entirely dependent on workers’ knowledge of the library collections.

The attack also left staff vulnerable to extortion because their private details were released on the dark web.

A new system has only just been completed. But striker Bernadette told Socialist Worker the system—which cost the library millions to set up—is “not fit for purpose.”

“It’s a disaster, very difficult to navigate,” she said. And “There’s a lot of anxiety and fear about the system,” because it severely limits what workers can do to keep the library service running.

When workers raised the myriad of errors in the system, management told them readers will just have to “suck it up”.

“Fundamentally, it’s our readers who will suffer. But it’s us frontline staff who will have to deal with these frustrated customers,” explained Bernadette.

“Our mental health is already in the pan.”

Nick said the strikes have “really united” staff from across the different departments.

Over 100 new members have joined the union. Some switched from the Prospect union which accepted a pay off rejected by the PCS. Bernadette said that workers felt “stabbed in the back” by this move from Prospect.

“We love our jobs,” Bernadette said, “but we have to make a stand now.”

“I don’t want to be out here, I want to be in there working—but I need to be paid. We’re all in the red.”

PCS members voted 98.23 percent in favour of industrial action on a 75.17 percent turnout. Nick says this has proved to management that “we’re not to be messed with.”

“If it comes to it, we know we have the support to escalate this strike.” Bernadette agreed saying, “We’re going to keep fighting.”