The workers’ unions for the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum staff announced a strike at all four London branches of the museum over poor pay and working conditions.
The strike will take place on October 29 and 30 at V&A South Kensington, East Storehouse, East Museum, and Young V&A. The strike is organized by Prospect Union and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS). The V&A has already announced the closure of three of the concerned branches for the planned days.
The majority of issues raised by the staff have been around working conditions, which they described as akin to an Amazon warehouse. These include not having adequate break time to drink water and use the toilet. The unions have presented a list of demands which include two paid breaks for all staff each day. In terms of wages, the unions demand V&A to become part of the Real London Living Wage program, under which all workers would be guaranteed a minimum wage of £14.80. The union also demanded a 4% pay bump for all employees earning above the minimum wage, and 150% compensation for staff working on bank holidays.
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A museum spokesperson said that they are currently in talks with the workers and have already agreed to most of the demands. Apart from already paying minimum wage, they also agreed on a 4.18% average pay increase and a 6.9% pay bump for the minimum wage employees. But the union countered that most employees only saw a 3.25 percent wage increase. PCS also refuted the museum’s claim that no food or water was allowed, either for visitors or the staff, near the paintings, stating that their members know that F&B were served near the collections and even beer bottles were found.
