Staff at Picasso Museum in Malaga call two more days of strikes in response to employer's 'silence'

The three-hour partial strike that the Museo Picasso Málaga (MPM) experienced last Friday caused the closure of the temporary exhibition Picasso the Sculptor, inaugurated a few weeks ago to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of the Malaga-born painter. The museum opened with temporary staff and visitors could only enter the rooms of the permanent collection.

In statements, both sides called for new talks, but the negotiation of the new agreement remains blocked. "They ignore us. They tell the press that they want to continue the dialogue, but they don't call us to talk," the workers' representative, Pepa Babot, told SUR this week. She said that the workers have decided to escalate their action and have called the first two days of a full strike, on 14 and 20 June.

SUR has contacted the company's management to discover their position, but so far has not received a response.

According to the union leader, the aim of these demonstrations is to "make the company react so that it returns to the negotiating table". Babot added that the first two strike dates will have "continuity throughout the summer", coinciding with the high season for visits to the MPM.

Wednesday 14 June coincides with the arrival in Malaga port of two large cruise ships whose passengers regularly visit the art gallery, while on Tuesday 20 June the third edition of the CM Malaga-Culture & Museums International Tech Forum will be held, an event that brings together the heads of exhibition and cultural centres from Spain and the rest of the world.

Pepa Babot reiterated the "uncomfortable" situation and blamed the company for the lack of dialogue, the "imposition" of an offer by the company that was rejected by more than 90% of the workers in a vote and the latest "threat of outsourcing of services" that the company representatives stated in a meeting last Thursday in which the mediation ended again without agreement between the parties.

The management of the Picasso Museum has argued that its offer represents "a significant wage increase, 8% for this year, with the possibility of establishing an additional 2% in improvements in bonuses to reach, together with the rest of the increases, an overall increase of 10% of the wage bill and an accumulated increase of 18.73% over five years".

The workers' union said that the measure has no retroactive effect for 2022, when the previous agreement expired, and "is a far cry from the 25% loss of purchasing power that workers have suffered after eleven years with no increase in salary, a wage drop of between 3% and 7% in 2012 and two ERTES" during the pandemic.