Trustees of the National Gallery are meeting today to prepare for a third round of employee strikes, which the Guardian reports will include two-thirds of the gallery's workforce.

The strikes are in reaction to the National Gallery's plans to outsource around 400 jobs based around customer services such as security, visitor services and ticketing.

The plans were originally announced around nine months ago, in response to government funding cuts and a number of other issues. At the beginning of this year, Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) spokesman Richard Simcox said 'we do not accept that this is the answer to whatever problems the gallery has,' but without suggesting any potential alternative solutions.

The National Gallery's plans to outsource have been mislabeled as 'privitisation' by both the PCS and publications such as the Guardian. By outsourcing services, the National Gallery maintains full control and accountability; privitisation would involve the National Gallery losing all control of the operation.

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