British Library (BL) staff are still waiting for the outcome of their 2007 pay deal which is now over six months late. Funding was in place in August for a 1 year deal but management (without consulting the unions) decided to delay all pay talks until the outcome of the government's Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). The BL's remit in the CSR is still unknown and management have cancelled all scheduled pay meetings with the unions, refusing to begin negotiations until the remit has been agreed with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Treasury. The unions asked for a meeting with management in order to express staff concerns at the continuing delay and were told that such a meeting "is not justified."

Not content with refusing to negotiate a pay deal that was due in August 2007, BL management has also sought to suppress any discussion of industrial action in the workplace. Prior to a recent PCS British Library North trade union branch meeting on pay, the branch Executive Committee were warned in writing by management that any attempt to plan or implement industrial action in "facility time" (time granted for trade union activities during working hours) would violate the facilities agreement and put union reps in breach of their contracts. In the current climate, with suspensions of union reps in other areas of the public sector such as the Child Support Agency and the Department of Health, PCS HQ has advised that the safest way to discuss industrial action would be to hold meetings away from library premises and outside working hours.

As a consequence, around 50-60 PCS members at the BL site in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, sacrificed part of their lunch break in order to gather in a lay-by outside library premises and discuss strike action. Members voted unanimously with a show of hands for industrial action, also demanding that a ballot occurs before a pay offer has been placed on the table by management (whenever that will be!). PCS members at the BL continue to demonstrate a willingness to undertake industrial action, in spite of the hardships of low pay and rising living costs. Anger and frustration with both BL management and government policy in relation to public services generally, was extremely apparent at the meeting and reflects the increasing radicalisation of workers throughout the public sector.

Any action undertaken by BL workers would be far more effective as part of a national campaign, orchestrated by PCS and other public sector unions. PCS National Executive Committee (NEC) have so far chosen not to pursue a strategy of national strike action, although there has been intermittent (and largely ineffective) one day strikes in particular areas of the public sector that have been hit hardest by government policies, such as the Department of Work and Pensions. Postal workers demonstrated in 2007 that industrial action can have a national impact if clearly thought out and pursued with inventiveness and ingenuity. Although CWU members were later betrayed by their union leaders, PCS NEC now has a real opportunity to respond to the mood of public sector workers and orchestrate effective and targeted strike action at a national level.