Council postpones cultural trust move for talks with union

The GMB union '˜cautiously' welcomed the move by the council to postpone moving the Royal Pavilion and Museums into a Trust with the Brighton Dome.
Royal PavilionRoyal Pavilion
Royal Pavilion

The union, which called the move ‘privatisation’ of the city’s cultural assess, had threatened strike action over the summer as a result of the move.

Now Brighton and Hove City Council has agreed to hold the move for further talks with the union and staff.

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A council spokesperson said: “We have proposed postponing the current process to allow us to commission an expert external review of all of the options open to us.

“We want to ensure that we engage with staff and unions in identifying the best option for the future of the service and developing a shared vision.

“We aim to complete this piece of work by the end of September 2018 and anticipate that this will allow us to secure a sustainable future for the service, protect and care for the city’s assets and collections and ensure future generations can fully benefit from what is an internationally renowned heritage and cultural offer.”

The GMB union claimed moving the running of the Royal Pavilion and Museums to a new Trust with the Brighton Dome and Festival could put jobs at risk.

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But Brighton and Hove City Council said the plans to move the Royal Pavilion and Museums (RPM) into a cultural trust will protect it from local authority cuts.

Initial plans were for a two-stage transition, where the RPM would first move into its own Trust, and then merge with the Brighton Dome and Festival, but councillors agreed last month to skip straight to the merger.

Now the plans have been postponed, Mark Turner, GMB branch secretary, said: “I of course cautiously welcome the offer from Brighton and Hove City Council.

“I say cautiously because everyone thought we were all moving along in one direction before, and then suddenly the Labour group changed direction under the leadership of Warren Morgan without any hint of a warning signal.

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“Conservatives at the council’s policy, resources and growth committee also moved to awarding a contract unilaterally to the Dome and Festival Trust to run the Royal Pavilion & Museums services. So my hope is that this time an open and fair process with meaningful consultation will stay in place from start to finish in all aspects of new review process.

“The next steps for us is that we will be meeting members and staff next Wednesday (February 21) at 9am to ask them if they agree with the council’s proposal. In the meantime, we will be standing down any threats of both a ballot and /or industrial action, as a sign of good faith in light of the proposal to our members to consider.

“If they do then accept the proposal we will commence discussing what happens next around the review and their involvement in scoping the consultant brief, engagement process and timetable, and in ensuring that GMB members and staff will be seeing meaningful and significant input this time, into the whole process and final report.”

The Royal Pavilion and Museums runs Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, The Booth Museum of Natural History, Hove Museum and Art Gallery, Preston Manor and The Royal Pavilion and its garden.