Chief Executive and Trustees of National Coal Mining Museum MUST RESIGN NOW!

The National Coal Mining Museum for England, based at Caphouse Colliery in Wakefield, is a national treasure.  What makes the Museum so unique and special is that it is not just a Museum of objects, it is a working pit.  In addition to exhibitions, the public is able to travel 140m underground and hear about the 180 years of mining history from ex-miners.  The stories are real, the experience is authentic and the memory of the unique, immersive experience stays with people forever.

There is currently a strike at the Museum.  At the time this petition went live, the workers have been on strike for 3 months over a dispute that would cost the employer less than £10k to resolve.  Rather than resolve the dispute, the employer has made a series of pay offers, each one is worse than the previous.  It has been reported in the public domain that the Museum is paying £1200 a day (£33,600 a month) for a private security firm to stand at the gate.  To date, £100,800 of taxpayers money that should be used to advance the charity’s purpose has been handed over to this private company.

The operational leadership of the Museum is undertaken by a Chief Executive but the overall responsibility and governance of the Museum rests with the Board of Trustees.  They have completely failed to lead the senior leadership team of the Museum and resolve the dispute.  The Trustees have:-

1)  Failed to ensure that the charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit.  To try and ensure visitors continue to visit the Museum even when there is no underground tour, they have allowed the Chief Executive to schedule activities that do not further or support the Museum’s purposes.  Spending charity funds on the wrong purposes is a very serious matter; in some cases trustees may have to reimburse the charity personally.

2)  Failed to act in the Museum’s best interests.  By not intervening to resolve the dispute when it was made clear that the Chief Executive was either not competent or unwilling to, they have failed to make balanced and adequately informed decisions by not thinking about the long term as well as the short-term future of the Museum.  

3)  Failed to manage the Museum’s resources responsibly. 

      i)   By handing over more that £100k of taxpayers money to a private security company rather than resolve a dispute for less that £10k shows that the Trustees have failed to act responsibly or reasonably.  They have failed in their duty of prudence. Prudence is about exercising sound judgement.
      ii)   They have failed to avoid exposing the Museum’s assets, beneficiaries or reputation to undue risk

4)  Failed to act with reasonable care and skill.  This includes the fact that some Trustees listed on the Museum’s website and on Companies House are not giving enough time, thought and energy to their role.  A number do not even attend or actively participate in the trustees’ meetings.

5)  Failed to ensure the Museum is accountable.  This includes the fact that the Museum is not always complying with the law and it is currently, not well run and effective

For these reasons, THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND THE TRUSTEES MUST RESIGN FROM ALL THEIR PAID AND UNPAID ROLES WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.