Museum staff in York are furious over council plans to cut their pay to help tackle a financial crisis.

Attendants are planning to boycott a 60th birthday party at the Castle Museum tonight in protest at the City of York Council proposals, drawn up in the wake of declining museum attendances.

Peter Household, convenor of the UNISON union, claimed that staging the party at such a critical moment was in "bad taste".

And he said the union had been asked to ballot scores of staff at the Castle Museum, Yorkshire Museum, City Art Gallery and York Story on possible strike action.

He said he was disgusted because the council was seeking to help solve museum financial problems by cutting employees' pay.

The council wants to stop paying enhanced rates of pay for working at weekends, and cut attendants' working hours at the beginning and end of the day. About 80 staff at the four complexes are affected.

A letter to staff, leaked today to the Evening Press, revealed that more than £1 million has been siphoned off from a development fund over four years to support the museum's revenue budget.

"This was needed purely because of the fall-off in visitor numbers," said acting director of leisure services, Charlie Croft.

"Based on current projections, the fund will run out shortly into the next financial year."

He called for UNISON to discuss the proposals, saying that simply preserving the status quo without any pay cuts was not possible. A meeting was held yesterday and another is planned for early August.

Mr Croft denied union claims that a seven per cent annual fall in museum attendances was a result of mismanagement, saying it reflected changes in attitudes towards leisure time, with greater competition for custom from leisure parks and out-of-town shopping centres.

He said the timing of tonight's party was an "unfortunate coincidence", and understood why some members of staff might not wish to come along. But managers would open up the museum to ensure that the party, and also a private preview of a new chocolate exhibition, to be attended by the Lord Mayor, went ahead.

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