Overview
- Prospect members at the V&A’s London sites registered very high turnouts and large yes votes for strike action, with the Storehouse cohort reporting a near-unanimous result.
- The dispute centers on collections access officers who run the V&A’s “order an object” service and who say operational rules prevent them from carrying water or taking routine morning and afternoon breaks.
- The V&A says talks have been ongoing since February and has offered a 3.6% increase across the pay bill with a 6.9% rise for the lowest-paid staff while insisting staff have access to water, toilets and regular breaks.
- Prospect is demanding two paid 15-minute breaks for affected staff, a minimum 4% rise for those above the living wage, time-and-a-half for bank holidays and accreditation as a London Living Wage employer, and PCS has a separate ballot of more than 300 staff calling for a cross-site heat policy.
- Unions cite reported cases of dehydration and at least one fainting episode to underline welfare risks, and a strike or further action could disrupt the Storehouse’s object-viewing service and add momentum to wider cultural-sector pay and safety campaigns.