‘Art as a Weapon’ / National Gallery Strike against Privatisation – Drift Report

Last week staff at the National Gallery, London held a 5-day strike against privatisation of 400 gallery staff. This is a report I made about the Day of Action against heir to the Getty family fortune Mark Getty, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Gallery who has steadfastly refused to meet with staff and PCS Trade Union representatives. The day started with a rally outside the Sainsbury Wing of the Gallery, currently staffed by a private security firm, followed by a loud and colourful march across Leicester Square, through China Town and Soho, along Oxford Street to the Getty Images Gallery in Eastcastle Street.
The protest in the driving rain was also in support of National Gallery Trade Union Rep Candy Udwin who was suspended by the gallery on trumped up charges merely because she asked how much it had cost to bring in private security firm CIS to the Sainsbury wing of the National Gallery.

 


Shot and edited by John Rogers
Title sequence and channel artwork by Danny Kairos
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