On September 4 and 5, employees at three sites in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) network will be on strike. The announcement was relayed on August 21 by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, the largest in the British public service, representing around 200,000 workers, which specified the dates of the strike on the 26th. The decision was taken following a vote organized between unionized employees of the Victoria and Albert, with a near consensus: 95% of voters voted in favor of the strike.
Other forms of protests will be carried out alongside the strike starting September 4, including refusal of overtime, minimum work and refusal to cooperate, PCS said. The union’s general secretary Fran Heathcote denounced a lack of listening from the V&A management, adding that if the latter “wanted to avoid further disruption, she should sit at the negotiating table with the PCS”.
The decision comes after the strike by employees of the Royal Museums Greenwich group, organized by the Prospect union earlier in the month. Employees of the London Museum (formerly Museum of London) were also on strike on February 19, then continued union action in the following weeks. The conflict ended in April thanks to an agreement with management on a 3.5% salary increase.
Recent actions seem to support the observation of widespread fatigue among employees in the British museum sector. Despite a two-year pay rise agreement reached with management before the strike, Greenwich employees are demanding London Living Wage accreditation, which implies a level of remuneration at an hourly rate above the legal minimum wage, as well as better working conditions. The demands of the Victoria and Albert teams also mainly relate to salaries, in a context where the cost of living in London has increased significantly. The Office for National Statistics estimates that between 2021 and 2026, household living costs have increased by around 34% nationally.
The situation is partly linked to the long-term consequences of the pandemic. According to a survey by the non-profit professional association Museums Association, carried out between 2025 and 2026 on 705 participants, the museum sector is under constant pressure, linked to the post-covid era, the cost of living crisis and reductions in funding from local authorities. Among respondents whose organizations are facing reductions, 41% believe they will result in job losses (up from 55% the previous year).
In this context, unions are welcoming more and more museum employees into their ranks. Nicholas Marro, secretary of the PCS culture group, indicated to the Artnet information site that he had noticed a “explosive rise in membership of the Victoria and Albert since voting opened”referring to the vote organized to decide the upcoming strike at the museum.
For their part, V&A representatives told Artnet that they had made efforts to respond to the unions’ demands. The V&A says it has proposed an average rise of 4.18%, rising to 6.9% for the lowest paid positions, as well as a new bonus system.
