The Royal Society of Arts has been accused of punishing staff who spoke out about their campaign to unionise the 270-year-old charity. The Observer reported last week that almost half the charity’s workforce below senior manager level had joined the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), with a petition indicating most staff backed unionisation. The RSA senior management team led by Andy Haldane, a former chief economist at the Bank of England, has rebuffed three requests to voluntarily recognise the union. But one of the staff members who spoke to the Observer, Ruth Hannan, said her employment was terminated almost a week early by management after the article was published, leaving her unable to say goodbye to colleagues she had worked with for three years. “I didn’t think they would be so spiteful but unfortunately that has proved to be the case,” she said. “Although it is upsetting for me, it has been worse for everyone else. They have been given another telling off and told not to put anything on social media [in connection to the Observer article and the union].” Hannan, who was paid for the remaining days, said she was sent an email on Monday stating the RSA “had serious concerns about my comments published in the press yesterday” which amounted to “an explicit attempt to damage the RSA”.
“I felt their response showed yet again they were not living up to their values,” she said. A current staffer said management had escalated the situation by terminating Hannan’s employment early. “It was designed to make us feel uncomfortable and scared. The shock impact was huge. We did feel intimidated at first,” he said. Messages from managers – seen by the Observer – claim employees could be in breach of contracts if they share or like or comment on social media in relation to the union campaign or the Observer article. The move appears to have backfired, however, with six staff members signing up to the union last week, according to the IWGB. Another employee said: “I feel more fire in my belly. It is so clear this is an outrageous attempt to quash our voices and quash what is quite a reasonable request to have a union at the RSA.” Some RSA fellows, whose number once included Karl Marx and Nelson Mandela, have rallied to the union’s cause. An open letter signed by 58 fellows calls for the RSA to immediately re-initiate a positive process towards voluntary recognition. An RSA spokesperson said: “As we have said throughout, our strongly held view … is that a truly representative, democratically elected staff body is the right way to secure a staff voice. We have acted throughout this process in ways to ensure this outcome. “We have an exceptional group of staff who care passionately about our work, reputation and heritage and we are grateful for their ongoing commitment to our compelling societal mission. We will be holding a series of open sessions this week, to provide our people with clarity and support.”