Tower of London's Renowned Red-Coat Beefeaters Strike for First Time Since 1963

The action stems from 120 Beefeaters being moved from final salary pensions onto an "inferior" model, the GMB union has said - 91 percent of its members supported a walk-out on a turnout of 88 percent. None of the sites managed by Historic Royal Palaces, an independent charity, will be closing as a result.

The Tower of London's internationally famous Beefeaters have gone on strike for the first time in 55 years in a row over pensions. As a result, at 11:30 GMT on December 21 staff (presumably out-of-costume) picketed some of the UK's historic royal buildings, including the Tower and Hampton Court Palace.

"Historic Royal Palaces are jumping on a bandwagon which is seeing employers engaging in a race to the bottom, ending good final salary schemes and replacing them with risky cheaper defined contribution schemes. GMB members still at this late stage are willing to talk to Historic Royal Palaces but the silence is deafening," Michael Ainsley, GMB regional organiser, said.

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) August 2, 2017

John Barnes, the charity's chief executive, said the 11 percent of staff affected by the move have been offered "substantial compensation and transition arrangements".

Wow. Just had an email that BEEFEATERS are going on strike at the royal palaces on 8 January. Apparently it is over their loss of pension. Have Beefeaters gone on strike before??

— Jennifer-Anne Scott (@NifS) December 17, 2018

​"The benefits they have already accrued will be fully protected, and they will be transferred onto the same competitive defined contribution scheme as the other 89% of their colleagues in April 2019. [The strike] will not change our decision," he added.

— Ravenmaster (@ravenmaster1) December 21, 2018

Another action is planned January 2.