V&A collections staff vote to strike over working conditions during heatwave

Collections access officers at the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) East Storehouse in London have voted unanimously to strike in a dispute over working practices.

The development is part of a wider dispute at the V&A, which has seen workers at all London sites vote this week to take industrial action over pay and conditions.

The union Prospect has brought a collective grievance against the V&A over what it describes as “unacceptable ‘Amazon-style’ conditions” at the East Storehouse, particularly during this summer’s ongoing heatwaves.

Prospect says the officers are denied sufficient time during the day for toilet breaks or for drinks, a policy that reportedly led one worker to faint after a day of working during the extreme heat. The union is asking for two paid breaks a day to allow staff time to use toilets and hydrate “in what is a punishing daily schedule”.

Staff in other parts of the organisation already receive these customary paid breaks, the union says.

The collections access officers facilitate the storehouse’s innovative “order an object” process, which launched when the new site opened in May 2025.

“These workers have largely been drawn from the local community, something the V&A is keen to make mileage out of, yet they are treated much worse than other workers on different sites,” says Prospect.

The wider dispute at the V&A concerns pay, working conditions and the institution’s “refusal” to seek Living Wage accreditation.

Prospect members across the institution voted this week for industrial action, with 83% supporting strike action and 95% voting in favour of action short of a strike.  

The union 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, and improve food provision at V&A East sites.

In a statement, the V&A said the safety and wellbeing of staff is of “utmost importance”.

“All our staff have access to water and toilet facilities and regular breaks while at work,” said the statement.

“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.”

However, the institution confirmed that food and drink are not allowed inside the storage warehouse, saying: “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.”

A spokesperson said that this policy is due to the storehouse being a working collections store, equivalent to a “back-of-house working space with hundreds of thousands of national collections on open display”.

The Order an Object service enables visitors to order up to five national collection items that they can view and, depending on the object, sometimes handle during their visit. Food and drink are therefore not permitted in the appointment space to ensure the safety and security of objects.

“If staff require a break, they can swap out with their colleagues as needed, in addition to taking a one-hour break daily,” said the spokesperson. 

The storehouse also has water fountains on every floor to ensure that both staff and visitors in front-of-house areas have access to drinking water throughout the building.

The V&A previously confirmed to Museums Journal that it pays at least the London Living Wage to staff and all of its main contractors, and said it was considering Living Wage accreditation.

This week's statement said: “ 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% increase in the overall pay bill, an above inflation pay award as a minimum, and 6.9% increase for our lowest paid colleagues.

“As always, we have maintained our long-standing commitment to paying at least the London Living Wage.”

Mike Clancy, the general secretary of Prospect, said the dispute at the storehouse was part of a “pattern with V&A showing a shocking lack of respect to its employees and fighting fairness at every turn”.

“This brand-new flagship site of one of the country’s most popular national museums opened with great fanfare last year and it has been a huge success,” said Clancy.

“However, 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 to the museum will be appalled to learn that these kinds of working practices, which unions campaign against in companies like Amazon, also exist in an internationally renowned heritage institution.”

Clancy said Prospect members were planning industrial action across the whole V&A in London.

“It is our members who make the V&A what it is and it’s time [V&A director] Tristram Hunt and the rest of the V&A senior management started treating their workers in a manner befitting a national museum,” he said.