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24.01.2025 / Press releases / Natural History, Science and V&A Museums
The workers, who are outsourced to private security contractor Wilson James, are fighting for a pay rise to £16 per hour, sick pay from day one, and full parity with directly employed museum staff, including more annual leave and an annual bonus.
The guards, who are members of the trade union United Voices of the World (UVW), are holding firm in their dispute and urging the public to stand in solidarity with them by boycotting the museums for the entire month of February.
Meanwhile, the workers continue their campaign of visiting the workplaces of museum Trustees, hand-delivering letters, and urging them to support the dispute.
On Monday, 20 January, around 40 guards visited the architectural firm where V&A Trustee Amanda Levete is founder and director to hand-deliver a letter outlining their demands and asking for her support. Levete had previously ignored the guards’ emails. While Levete declined to meet them face to face, she agreed to answer them in writing by Friday 24 January.
The guards have endured years of stagnant wages, including six years of frozen pay and a mere 1.2% increase between 2019 and 2021, despite their employer’s profits doubling to over £7.6 million annually during the same period. The Museums make millions of pounds annually and have seen record growth in recent years. According to the Natural History Museum Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24, the museum saw “a record year for visitor numbers, just shy of 6.0m (2023: 5.3m), generating an increase in visitor related income, total income grew to £135.5m (2023: £117.0m).” The Science Museum’s Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24 also boasts of “a record-breaking year for profit, aided by an increase in visitors, benefiting visitor-related income” and celebrates their “self generated unrestricted income” reach a five-year high. Overall, “(…) the Group’s funds increased by £23.2m to a total of £659.3m at 31 March 2024 (2023: £636.1m). At March 2024 the Group’s expendable reserves have increased to £95.8m (2022–23: £89.0m)”
By contrast, before the strike action, security guards earned just £11.95 per hour, well below the cost of living in London. In August 2023, Wilson James offered a minimal raise to £13.15 per hour—a figure described by workers as “insulting.” This offer failed to address years of stagnant wages and pay freezes.
Even after the London Living Wage (LLW) increased to £13.85 in 2023, Wilson James refused to implement it immediately or backdate the earlier LLW rate of £13.15 to November 2023, when it was first announced. The company refuses to engage with the guards’ union UVW.
Edi Palalej, security guard and UVW representative at V&A Museum said:
“We are a bit disappointed Amanda Levete didn’t come down to have a face-to-face chat regarding what’s going on in the three museums, but we are looking forward to her response, and hopefully, it will be a positive one. We will continue to fight for our rights and for everyone to be treated fairly at the V&A and across all the other museums for as long as it takes.”
Bayo Owolabi, security guard and UVW representative at Science Museum said:
“We have been ignored and treated with utter disdain for too long. We have been undermined but we do not undermine ourselves. We are strong, united and we will work hard to get justice.”
Petros Elia, general secretary for UVW, said:
“This historic month-long strike action shows the unwavering determination of the security guards at the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, and V&A to achieve dignity and equality at work. These workers, who have been underpaid and undervalued for far too long. They are also not blind to the fact that the majority of them are from Black, Brown, ethnic minority and migrant backgrounds, which stands in stark contrast to the directly employed members of staff at the museums who are, by a large majority, White British. It is therefore understandable that the decision of the museums to defend a system of outsourcing that has the inevitable result that a group of majority White British workers will get more sick leave, annual leave and better pensions and other benefits, than a group of Black, Brown, ethnic minority and migrant workers, is an example of institutional racism. That’s why they are now making history with the longest strike ever at these iconic institutions. We urge the public to stand with the guards by not visiting the museums throughout February. Together, we can send a clear message to Wilson James and museum management: exploitation and discrimination has no place in these cultural spaces.”
For more information contact the UVW comms team.
Jim: 07749 765264
Isabel: 07706 987443
Cristina: 07548 759340
E-mail: comms@uvwunion.org.uk
Notes for editors
United Voices of the World is an anti-racist, member-led, direct action, campaigning trade union and we exist to support and empower the most vulnerable groups of precarious, low-paid and predominantly BAME and migrant workers in the UK. We fight the bosses through direct action on the streets and through the courts and demand that all members receive at least the London Living Wage, full pay, sick pay, dignity, equality and respect.
More on the museums strike:
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30.01.2025 / Press releases / Solace
24.01.2025 / Press releases / Natural History, Science and V&A Museums
17.01.2025 / Press releases / Solace