V&A staff strike: When is it and how will it affect museum visitors?

Workers at the V&A are staging a two-day strike in a dispute over pay and conditions.Members of Prospect and the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) at the museum in South Kensington will walk out on Friday and Saturday.Prospect is calling for a minimum 4% pay increase for staff earning above the living wage and other benefits including time-and-a-half for bank holiday working.The strike action will only cover the museum in South Kensington but Prospect said it remained in dispute at other V&A sites across the capital.The V&A has said as a result of the strike action the museum will offer “a reduced visitor offer which may disrupt your visit” on the affected days.The exhibition Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art, the café and some ground floor galleries will be open. Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, said: “Our members have been left with no choice but to take strike action by a senior management which continues to not engage seriously on our very reasonable demands.“Directors at V&A continue to demonstrate their lack of respect for the very people who make the museum what it is – its dedicated, highly qualified staff.“The V&A can still avoid this strike, but it needs actual effort to meet our terms and for senior management to demonstrate that they are serious about wanting to find a solution.”In a statement the V&A said: “We deeply regret that the Trade Unions have voted for strike action. Because we are still in discussion with the unions about the dispute, we are limited in what we can say about the process, but we have been negotiating with them in good faith since February and have met the majority of their demands with a significantly improved offer, which we believe is fair, competitive and affordable.“Although we are not accredited, all V&A staff are paid the London Living Wage and have been for many years. To thank colleagues for their hard work last year, we also shared out a sector-leading bonus payment.“The safety and wellbeing of our staff is of the utmost importance to the V&A – all our staff have regular access to water, toilet facilities and breaks while at work.”