Prospect members at V&A to strike as senior management refuses to negotiate

Prospect members at the V&A are to take strike action on the 4th and 5th of September in a dispute over pay and working conditions. The strike action is being coordinated with PCS members who are also striking on those days in a parallel dispute.

Director of the V&A Tristram Hunt has continued to refuse to take part in any of the arbitration talks, leaving negotiations to more junior executives who have brought no revised offer to the table.

Prospect is demanding the V&A:

• Deliver a minimum 4% pay increase for staff earning above the Living Wage
• Pay time-and-a-half for Bank Holiday working
• Become an accredited London Living Wage employer within 12 months
• Improve food provision at V&A East sites
• The timing and specifics of the industrial action at all London V&A sites will be decided in due course.

The strike action will cover all satellite V&A sites in London but not the main site in South Kensington: V&A East, V&A Storehouse and Young V&A.

In a separate dispute with V&A, Prospect recently won paid breaks for collections workers at V&A Storehouse who had previously been unable to access toilet and drinking water facilities on shift.

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, said:

“Our members love their jobs and don’t want to take strike action, but they have been left with no choice by a senior management which refuses to take their very reasonable demands seriously.

“We have participated in Acas talks to try and resolve the dispute but we need a credible, improved offer to take to our members. That has not been forthcoming.

“Directors at V&A continue to demonstrate their lack of respect for the very people who make the museum what it is – its dedicated, highly qualified staff.

“The V&A can still avoid this strike, but it needs actual effort to meet our terms and for senior management to demonstrate that they are serious about wanting to find a solution to this dispute.”