Fury after Tate gallery asks staff to chip in to buy their boss a sailing boat

Tate gallery has provoked fury after asking employees to contribute towards a sailing boat for outgoing director Nicholas Serota.

Staff at Tate Modern and Tate Britain were reportedly stunned when a notice invited them to chip in for his surprise leaving present.

It said: "We have thought long and hard about what to get and decided to put money towards a sailing boat.

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"Nick loves sailing and this would be a lasting and very special reminder of the high regard which I know so many of us have for Nick and his contribution to Tate."

Tate is currently involved in a long-running dispute over pay and contracts. Management have come under fire for outsourcing jobs to the Securitas agency, which does not pay staff the London living wage.

A union representative for Tate staff told The Guardian she originally thought the memo was a spoof.

Tracy Edwards, of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said: "The staff at Tate are underpaid and overworked and haven't had appropriate pay rises and this just demonstrates how divorced from reality the management at Tate are.

Many employees were on zero-hours contracts, she added, and "to ask them to donate towards a boat – well, I can tell you the staff are not happy at all.

"It's really rubbed people up the wrong way".

Serota will stand down from the Tate, one of the most influential jobs in the arts, next month, after nearly three decades at the helm. He will be succeeded by Maria Balshaw, Tate's first female director.

A statement released by the Tate said staff were under "no obligation" to contribute towards his leaving gift, but "they can if they wish".