Workers at the at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) have applied for statutory union recognition at the charity after it rejected voluntary applications.
Members of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) employed by the RSA had applied for voluntary union recognition at the charity, which it rejected.
The IWGB has now applied to the Central Arbitration Committee to impose statutory union representation on the RSA.
This comes despite the RSA previously calling for the repeal of laws restricting trade union activity through its “future of work” project, leading some to argue this rejection is at odds with its previous public stance on unions.
Previous applications denied
A group of IWGB members called the RSAUnion, posted on social media: “In March 2022 the RSA Union first requested recognition, representing a majority of staff.
“We sought voluntary recognition to work collaboratively with our new leadership to reach the best working arrangement for our colleagues. This has been denied on three occasions.”
It added: “The RSA leadership have stated that the organisation does not think unionisation is in the best interests of our staff, fellows or the charity sector in general. We were pretty surprised as this isn’t something the leadership have always said in public in the past.”
‘A fairer working environment’
Alex Marshall, president at IWGB, said: “Everybody deserves a voice at work. That’s why staff at the RSA have come together and democratically chosen the IWGB as their union to represent them.
“The RSA has rightly championed this kind of workplace democracy and it is surprising to see senior management so far attempting to avoid a recognition deal. We are confident that through this deal, we can create a fairer, more democratic working environment at this historic institution.”
An RSA spokesperson told the Guardian: “The RSA is committed to using whatever time and resources are necessary to secure the strongest and most representative democratically elected staff voice on a broad range of issues, and until the Central Arbitration Committee process is complete it would not be appropriate for us to comment.”
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