LEADERS of striking staff at London’s prestigious National Gallery have called on its new director to begin talks to solve the gallery’s protracted dispute over privatisation.

Members of the public-sector union PCS have just ended their fourth round of strikes against privatisation — a 10-day stoppage — taking the number of strike days to 34 since February.

The staff are resisting plans to “outsource” 400 of the gallery’s 600 jobs to the private sector.

The jobs include security staff who guard the gallery’s unique collection, staff who deal with the public and requests for information about the collection, complaints and school bookings. Support for the strikers is spreading across the trades union movement.

The Gallery’s director, Dr Nicholas Penny, retires in August. Under his leadership management escalated the dispute by suspending senior union representative Candy Udwin, part of the union’s negotiating team, on the eve of the first strike and sacking her on May 15. Penny will be succeeded by Gabriele Finaldi.

PCS has called for urgent talks with him, and with the gallery’s new chair of trustees Hannah Rothschild. PCS has also announced plans for its next strike, a 24-hour stoppage on Thursday next week, June 11, and warned of continuing action throughout the summer if necessary.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “We are calling on the gallery’s new director and chair of trustees to meet us urgently to resolve this dispute that is damaging the reputation of one of our country’s finest cultural institutions.”