A planned strike across all four Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) sites has been suspended after unionized staff received an improved offer from management. Staffers who are members of the Prospect and Public and Commercial Services (PCS) unions voted to strike on Thursday and Friday in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
Strikes at the V&A’s main galleries in South Kensington, as well as its V&A East, V&A East Storehouse, and Young V&A facilities in East London were suspended on Monday, pending a last-minute negotiation organized by the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service (Acas). In a statement shared with The Guardian, PCS said it had suspended strikes at the end of this month “to allow Acas-facilitated talks to take place, following an improved offer from the museum.”
Allegations from workers included reports that employees at V&A East Storehouse, the institution’s newest museum, had fainted due to insufficient water breaks. The union is demanding a 4% increase in pay for staff earning above a living wage, for the V&A to become an accredited London living-wage employer within 12 months, and time-and-a-half pay for work done on bank holidays.
A spokesperson for the V&A shared with The Guardian that they “welcome this opportunity for constructive discussions with our trade union colleagues. Our latest pay offer delivers an average 4.18% pay rise and a 6.9% increase for our lowest-paid colleagues; increased bank holiday pay to 1.5, alongside a sector-leading bonus scheme and a subsidised food offer for staff at all V&A sites.” A PCS spokesperson stated that the union “will be entering talks in good faith and hope that a resolution to the dispute can be found.”