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25.03.2026 / News / Natural History, Science and V&A Museums / Science and V&A Museums

V&A and Science Museum Guards on brink of strike action over pay and ‘sham’ sackings—one year after walkouts

“After a long struggle, we managed to secure a trade union recognition deal, signed between UVW and our management. It is unfortunate that after last year’s campaign and the new recognition agreement, we have to again ballot for strike – and we may have to go on strike again -because management decided they were not going to respect the new agreements.”

Evariste, UVW member and museum security guard.

Outsourced security guards working at the Victoria and Albert and Science museums are set to ballot for strike action after their employer, Wilson James, refused to negotiate on a series of demands relating to pay and working conditions, as well as anger over the “sham” sacking of  a strike leader and two fellow union members. The ballot comes a year after major strikes in the institutions. 

The ballot organised by their union UVW comes amid growing frustration over contractor Wilson James’ refusal to negotiate a better deal, following years of low pay and poor conditions in the high-profile institutions they protect.  

Workers are calling for a £15 per hour base rate, alongside improved allowances for specialist roles such as night shifts and supervisory duties, enhanced overtime pay, full sick pay from day one, and improved holiday and leave entitlements. The demands reflect longstanding grievances about poverty pay and real terms pay cuts over time. 

Guards are also indignant about the dismissal of three Duty Security Managers at the Victoria and Albert Museum. All three were long-serving employees — including one with 17 years’ service — who were told their roles were redundant and escorted off site on the same day earlier this month (March.) 

The dismissed workers have launched urgent legal action at the Employment Tribunal seeking interim relief, a fast-track legal measure to remain in their roles and/or continue to be paid while their case is heard. They argue that their dismissals were unfair and linked to their trade union activity. The entire team has been laid off. 

One of the dismissed workers was a union representative and prominent strike leader who played a visible role in organising industrial action, picket lines and negotiations. 

They also argue that the process leading to their dismissal was rushed and lacked meaningful consultation. They were not offered suitable alternative roles, and newly created “Team Leader” positions — which they say involve reduced responsibilities, lower status and a pay cut — were advertised externally before any proper consultation had taken place. 

One of the workers is also pursuing a claim of disability discrimination, stating that proposed changes to his role could have worsened his condition and that no reasonable adjustments were discussed before he was dismissed. 

The sacking of three of our members in sham redundancies raises serious concerns about union targeting. An entire unionised team has been removed through a rushed and opaque process and replaced with lower-paid, downgraded roles. This kind of practice — using restructures to push out organised workers and replace them with worse jobs — is all too common across many workplaces, and it is exactly what UVW members are fighting against. 

The dispute comes only a year after a wave of high-profile strikes across London’s major museums — including the Natural History Museum — where outsourced security guards took more than 50 days of industrial action, involving daily walkouts. The dispute won them a major pay rise after years of wage poverty and stagnation and trade union recognition. 

Edi Palajej, the dismissed guard of 17 years at the V&A and 2024/25 UVW strike leader, said he was “very disappointed with how we were treated, in my case after 17 years of service at the V&A and the other museums. I arrived for work at 6am on a Sunday, was summoned to a meeting, told we were dismissed with immediate effect, and then escorted out like criminals. 

In the past, when redundancies took place, proper procedures were followed — for instance during the lockdown. But this time, none of that happened. Everything felt rushed,  and what felt like threat, threat, threat. It has taken a toll on all of us mentally and put us and our families under great stress. 

We believe UVW members have been targeted across the three museums, and that this started after the strikes took place, which I was unprepared for because we weren’t doing anything illegal. “ 

These are long-serving, dedicated staff who have been treated with a complete lack of respect. We are demanding their immediate reinstatement and will back them all the way to the Employment Tribunal, just as will back our members on the picket line. 

We do not want to be back on the picket lines outside these museums, but if Wilson James continues in this way, our members are ready to act again. 

Watch these space for updates!

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