Workers at the V&A museums in London are going on strike.
Earlier this week, employees at the V&A East Storehouse in Stratford voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over ‘Amazon-style’ working conditions. Staff members in the Prospect union are in a dispute with the museum over what they say are inadequate toilet and hydration breaks.
Why are V&A workers going on strike?
The dispute mainly centres around officers who facilitate the ‘order an object’ service in the Storehouse, which allows visitors to order any object from the museum’s vast archive. Many of the people who work at the Storehouse were recruited from the local area.
The union is asking for workers to be given two paid 15-minute breaks per day as well as a four percent wage increase and time-and-a-half pay for bank holidays. One Prospect union member told the Guardian that ‘order an object’ workers currently get one unpaid lunch hour.
Staff at other V&A sites in London also voted to strike over pay, working conditions and the museum’s refusal to become an accredited Living Wage employer.
When is the V&A strike?
The strike dates have yet to be decided – we’ll update this page when we have more information.
Which V&A museums will close during the strike?
This is also still to be confirmed. We don’t yet know if the strikes will affect whether the museums will be able to open or not.
What’s been said about the strikes?
Workers told the Guardian: ‘We’re on our feet for long hours, interacting with the public and doing a lot of manual labour.’
‘Breaks are a welfare issue. The Storehouse is purpose-built for storing objects, but they haven’t really thought about the human aspect – how far we have to travel around the building or where the bathrooms are.
‘We’ve experienced a lot of dehydration, and sometimes people don’t even go to the bathroom for the whole day.’
Mike Clancy, Prospect’s general secretary, said: ‘This incredible new way of showing off our heritage is being delivered by workers who are denied adequate break time to use the toilet or have a drink of water.
‘Visitors will be appalled to learn that the kinds of working practices unions campaign against in companies like Amazon also exist in an internationally renowned heritage institution.’
A V&A spokesperson said in a statement: ‘The V&A has been in negotiations with the trade union side since February and those negotiations are ongoing. Our offer sees a 3.6 percent increase in the overall pay bill, an above-inflation pay award as a minimum, and 6.9 percent increase for our lowest-paid colleagues. As always, we have maintained our longstanding commitment to paying at least the London living wage.
‘The safety and wellbeing of our staff is of utmost importance to the V&A – all our staff have access to water and toilet facilities and regular breaks while at work. At V&A East Storehouse we have water fountains on every floor to ensure both staff and visitors in front-of-house areas have access to drinking water throughout the building. To ensure the safety and security of national collections, during visits to V&A East Storehouse, food and drink are not permitted for visitors or staff in the main collections hall or storage areas.
‘Extensive measures were implemented to support our staff during the heatwave, ranging from additional rest breaks, increasing staff rotations across gallery spaces, closing several galleries at V&A South Kensington and closing Young V&A altogether on 11 days during the peak of the heatwave.’
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