50 signatures reached
To: Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Dept for DCMS, Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A Museum, Gus Casely-Hayford, Director of V&A East,Tim Reeve, Deputy Director of V&A.
PCS Demands Fair Pay and Safe Working Conditions at the V&A Museum
Dear Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for The Department of Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
cc. Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Gus Casely-Hayford, Director of V&A East, Tim Reeve, Deputy Director of V&A.
This petition has been signed by PCS members, staff and visitors at the V&A, and members of the public who support this campaign.
cc. Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Gus Casely-Hayford, Director of V&A East, Tim Reeve, Deputy Director of V&A.
This petition has been signed by PCS members, staff and visitors at the V&A, and members of the public who support this campaign.
We are asking for:
- The V&A to become a Real London Living Wage accredited employer,
- A pay offer of at least 4% for Band 6 and above,
- 1.5x normal pay on bank holidays,
- A cross-site policy of closing public spaces when the temperature hits 30 degrees for the safety of our members and the public, as well as heat mitigation measures for back of house staff,
- Staff at Storehouse to be allowed to access and carry drinking water,
- Senior staff to meet with our trade union representatives to discuss matters important to our members.
Why is this important?
Staff have been forced to work while suffering from dehydration, with members even reporting that they’ve fainted on the way home from work, when this was raised with management they received no response. Gallery assistants are also expected to work shifts in the garden at the South Kensington site in extreme hot weather putting their health, and the safety of visitors at risk. Our members have had enough! They said “the V&A has shown it does not value its lowest paid workers indispensable contributions to the operations of its museums. Without us these buildings don’t operate”. We need sufficient mitigations to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our colleagues now!
Further to these major health and safety incidents, after multiple attempts to negotiate, V&A management have failed to provide a meaningful pay offer for workers . They have also refused to become a Real Living Wage accredited employer. We work in one of the country’s most prestigious institutions, a landmark that is visited by people from all over the world yet we are treated with contempt when we ask for the bare minimum commitment from our employer to ensure we can afford to keep up with the rising cost of living in London.
When we mention that curators in other institutions have higher salaries, we are told a bigger increase for us would only be possible if they lower pay for our front of house colleagues. We all deserve fair pay, and it’s not fair that an uplift for some should result in poverty wages for others!