Write to Wilson James and the Natural History, Science and V&A museum bosses and trustees asking them to negotiate

Support the security guards and help keep the museums open and avoid strike action by writing to Wilson James and the museums bosses and trustees by completing the form below

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To: Trustees, directors and managers of the museums

Dear trustees, directors and managers of the museums, In light of your continued refusal to enter into negotiations or make any offers to improve the appalling terms and conditions of your hardworking and long-serving security guards, I feel compelled to write to you. It is deeply disappointing to hear that the guards have been forced to take 22 days of industrial action so far and have made the difficult decision to take industrial action every day throughout February. This situation reflects poorly on your leadership and the values your museums claim to uphold. I understand that formal statutory notices of the strike action have been served and I urge you to view this not as an escalation but as an opportunity to reconsider your entrenched position and engage with the guards' reasonable demands. It seems clear that an alternative to industrial action, such as entering into genuine negotiations or offering meaningful concessions, would be warmly welcomed by the guards. Unfortunately, your refusal to engage in dialogue has left them with no choice but to take action. This dispute is now entering its sixth month and your intransigence only serves to underline how little value you place on these workers. Your refusal to treat the security guards with dignity and respect suggests a worrying set of principles and prejudices. It appears you are intent on ensuring that these workers "learn their place" and accept that they are not, and will not be, valued or treated as equal members of the museum community. This is in stark contradiction to the museums' own public commitments to “build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging” and to foster an environment where "everyone who works at the museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected." The disparity in treatment between directly employed museum staff and outsourced security guards is striking. While thousands of directly employed staff enjoy excellent pensions, sick pay, annual leave and other benefits, the few hundred security guards are offered only the bare minimum. Their terms and conditions, particularly in relation to sick pay, annual leave, pensions and annual bonuses, are nothing short of miserly. It is particularly alarming that you remain committed to treating the security guards as "second-class" workers, despite the critical role they play in safeguarding the museums, protecting visitors, and ensuring the safety of priceless artefacts. Through their ongoing strike action, the guards are making it clear that they want, need and deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and equality. The issue of pay is especially galling. Between 2019 and 2021, while inflation soared and the net annual profits of Wilson James doubled to over £7.5 million, the guards received only a 1.2% pay increase. Before 2019, the situation was little better, with years of fractional increases and even wage stagnation. If their pay had kept pace with inflation since 2011, the guards would now be earning £16 an hour. Instead, they are earning 22% less than this. Even worse, despite being underpaid for years, the guards were forced to wait nearly a year after its implementation date to receive the London Living Wage (LLW) of £13.15, only for it to be overtaken almost immediately by the new LLW of £13.85. To this day, they are still not being paid the current LLW of £13.85, implemented on 23 October 2024. No guarantees have even been made that it will be backdated to that date. Suggestions that it may only be backdated or implemented by April 2025 are utterly unacceptable. There is no justification for this delay, especially when the guards are asking for, and deserve, more than the Living Wage. The excuses for denying the guards basic entitlements like sick pay from day one, an annual bonus, or the same annual leave as museum workers are that these demands are "unaffordable." For transparency, Wilson James stated in a letter dated 10th December: “...We have now considered the demands, including reviewing them with our Museum Consortium clients. Regrettably, we are not able to meet the demands because they are unaffordable...” Frankly, it is clear to anyone paying attention that this claim is not true. It has not escaped the guards' notice, or mine, that the majority of them are from Black, Brown, ethnic minority, and migrant backgrounds, while the directly employed staff at your museums are overwhelmingly White British. The conclusion many have drawn is that the decision to defend a system of outsourcing, which has the inevitable effect of ensuring that a majority White British workforce enjoys superior benefits compared to a majority Black, Brown, and migrant workforce, is a form of institutional racism, or what might be termed "indirect race discrimination" in legal terms. If you feel this conclusion is unfair or unfounded, then I invite you to provide the real reason why your security guards are treated as second-class workers. It is important to note that, while the decision to outsource security in 2011 removed direct employment, it did not absolve the museums of their moral and practical responsibility to set or heavily influence the guards' terms and conditions. Indeed, Wilson James has made it clear that the museums hold significant power in determining whether the guards receive what they are asking for. While it is obvious that Wilson James is profiting handsomely from this arrangement, the museums cannot absolve themselves of responsibility. You can and should intervene to ensure the guards are treated fairly and with equality. It is long past time for you to act in alignment with the values you profess to hold. This dispute can and should be settled. I hope that common sense, decency and a shared commitment to justice and equality will prevail, allowing the museums to begin a new chapter, one that they can truly be proud of. Yours sincerely,

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