It was once home to some of the world’s most celebrated radicals and changemakers including Karl Marx, Charles Dickens and Nelson Mandela, but now the Royal Society of Arts has become the centre of a bitter battle over trade union recognition. Nearly half the workforce below senior manager level at the 270-year-old charity’s headquarters in central London have joined the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, with most staff, in and outside the IWGB, backing unionisation. But the RSA’s executive team led by new chief executive Andy Haldane, a former chief economist at the Bank of England and government levelling-up adviser, has refused three times to voluntarily recognise the union, which would give the workers’ elected representatives the ability to negotiate pay and conditions. Union members believe their employer’s hostile stance goes against its public support for unions. The RSA, which aims to find practical solutions to social challenges, has published research calling for the repeal of laws restricting trade union activity and backing collective bargaining. Its future of work programme has recommended stronger unions. “Trade unions and other worker voice organisations should be strong enough to ensure workers enjoy the freedom they want alongside the security they need,” noted one report.
The RSA even gave the IWGB an award for unionising workers in the gig economy three years ago, commending the union for “placing decision-making power directly in the hands of workers”. Haldane himself has blamed low wage growth in the UK on the decline of trade unions, arguing that a period of “divide and conquer” had left workers less able to bargain for higher pay. The IWGB has now applied for statutory recognition, which could be imposed on the RSA. The tribunal examining the union’s application has found 48% of staff in the proposed bargaining unit, which excludes senior managers and human resources, are union members, with a petition indicating that a majority of staff – close to 57% – want union representation. However, the RSA told the tribunal that workers signed the petition under “various understandings” about the benefits of unionisation. It also claimed the IWGB was not “a fit and proper organisation for collective bargaining”, stating it had concerns about “its transparency, professionalism, competence and the legality of some of its actions”. Ruth Hannan, the RSA’s outgoing head of policy and participation and IWGB member, said the RSA was being hypocritical. “The RSA has done a huge amount of work over the past few years on the future of work and what good work looks like – and we’ve given the IWGB an award,” she said. “But the RSA is telling the world one thing, and doing another.”
Hannan, who is leaving after more than three years but remaining an RSA fellow, said many of the society’s illustrious former and current fellows would be shocked by its approach to union rights. “They joined the RSA because it is open, pioneering, enabling and optimistic. They would be disappointed to hear we’re not living our values – and that we’ve made life so hard for staff. We are letting down our very high historical reputation.” A pay freeze has riled some in the charity, where the number of executives earning over £70,000 increased from seven to nine in 2020-21, according to its annual report. A young staffer said it was having a significant impact on her quality of life. “My rent was raised two months ago. I’m now operating on a really tight budget,” she said. “Management put on a webinar on moneysaving techniques like using coupons and shopping at Lidl. But these are all the things that I’ve been doing since I was a student.” Union members at the charity’s Georgian offices, which sometimes stand in for No 10 in TV series and films, argue that they just wanted to make the RSA a better place to work. “I’ve been here about three years now and it’s become apparent to me that a union really is the only way that our workforce is going to get a meaningful, empowering staff voice,” explained the young staffer. Another staff member, who also faces a rent rise, said the pay freeze had led to widespread stress and anxiety. “The decision was taken without any level of genuine staff consultation. It doesn’t feel like there is a staff voice in the organisation at the moment. This is all in the context of a cost of living crisis which is difficult for everyone, RSA staff included.” There has been a flurry of leaving-dos. A recent recruit said some staff had left because they were unhappy with the direction of the RSA. “I enjoy my work. I feel it is important and valuable. But management is telling us that if we don’t like the current approach then we can leave. And lots of people have left – there’s been a lot of churn recently.” She said she had expected a more open, participatory organisation. “When I joined, the RSA byline of ‘a world where everyone is able to participate in creating a better future’ really resonated. But internally, it felt that there wasn’t really much value placed on staff being able to participate in setting the direction of the RSA and creating the conditions for us to do our best work”.
An RSA spokesperson said: “The RSA is committed to using whatever time and resources are necessary to secure the strongest and most representative democratically elected staff voice on a broad range of issues, and until the central arbitration committee process is complete it would not be appropriate for us to comment.” Alex Marshall, IWGB president, said it was surprising to see “unelected senior management” at the RSA attempting to discredit the union democratically chosen by its staff, and formerly commended by the society: “It is disappointing to see management stray wildly from the RSA’s values and public policy, attempting to block any form of recognition deal.”