Stand up for your rights: National Gallery staff protest over ban on sitting down

 

Staff at the National Gallery are in revolt over proposed plans to stop some of them sitting down on duty.

Gallery director Nicholas Penny is proposing changes that would require some “front of house” staff to stand during their shifts in order to increase efficiency.

The staff being targeted are part of the information services section near the gallery entrance.

Neville Maguire, 55, who has worked at the gallery for 10 years, told the Standard: “They are thinking about taking away the chairs because they don’t think people should be sitting.”

In draft documents seen by the Standard, the gallery has informed members of front-house staff they will be required to stand up for “up to four hours at a time”.

The proposal is aimed at staff who meet and greet and give information and directions to visitors.

Mandy Charles, 43, who works at the Trafalgar Square gallery, called it “atrocious”, saying: “I have had problems with my back but have been told I have to go via health and safety to get a chair.”

One of her colleagues added: “It would be ridiculous, standing for a whole shift would be a nightmare.”

Another gallery assistant claimed, however, that some staff members were known to nod off.

He said: “Sitting down for long periods in the warm gallery for hours can lead to staff ‘resting their eyes’. Even so, taking the chairs away would not be fair.” Union representative Candy Udwin added: “People are concerned about the physical impact and are not convinced it is the right way to approach visitors.”

The issue of chairs being removed was raised at a protest outside the gallery earlier this month.

In a statement, it said: “Discussions about the proposed restructure of four National Gallery departments are still ongoing with staff.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in