The news that NRM staff are going on strike (The Press, August 13) represents a failure of the pay negotiation process from the employer’s side, and Labour wholeheartedly supports striking staff in making their point that real terms pay cuts year after year must end.

The National Railway Museum is a nationally and internationally renowned attraction that pulls people to York from all over the world. In ensuring the museum functions effectively, and in a city where housing costs are so high, the very least the Science Museum Group can do is pay its staff the Real Living Wage.

Labour went out in support of keeping entry to the NRM free several years ago and this must remain the case in future. But if the museum can only operate through not paying its staff enough to live on then it has its business model wrong and must look for alternative sources of funding or cut costs in areas other than staff pay. Those who make the attraction what it is for the more than 800,000 visitors each year should not be left worse off as each year passes.

Coun Rachel Melly (Labour),

Huntington Mews, York