Museums are not normally at the forefront of the class struggle, but recently a number of disputes have taken place at Britain’s leading museums.

Brighton Unison have secured a pay rise at Brighton Pavilion and Museums Trust. Here, workers have secured a pay rise for this year and maintained their terms and conditions including two Christmas concessionary days, annual leave, sick pay, maternity, paternity, redundancy and pay protection arrangements that had been under threat. Unfortunately, the pay rise is only a modest one per cent.

Both Unison and GMB have secured a formal collective bargaining agreement with the trust.

Unison South East regional secretary Jo Galloway, said: “Looking after Brighton’s Pavilion & Museums isn’t just a job for this workforce. It’s something they care deeply about because they know these collections and historic buildings belong to everyone. After months of uncertainty, staff can finally put the dispute behind them and get back to protecting the city’s heritage.” Unions say that the trust was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, something the trust and the city council deny. This modest victory came only after strike action in April and June.

Meanwhile at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s (V&A’s) new site in East London, members of the Prospect union have voted unanimously for strike action over working conditions at the East Storehouse in Hackney Wick.

The issue is over unacceptable “Amazon-style” conditions at the V&A, with workers denied sufficient time during the day for toilet breaks or drinks. Prospect wants two paid breaks per day to allow staff time to use toilets and hydrate in what is a punishing daily schedule, something which management reject despite being standard at the museum’s older South Kensington site.

The new building has an “order an object” process that it claims is an exciting new way to see objects and modernize museums.

Prospect’s demands include a minimum four per cent pay rise increase for staff earning above the Living Wage, time-and-a-half for Bank Holidays, to become an accredited London Living Wage employer within the year and improved food provision at the new building.

Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancy said: “This brandnew flagship site of one of the country’s most popular national museums opened with great fanfare last year and it has been a huge success…however, this incredible new way of showing off our heritage is being delivered by workers who are denied adequate break time to use the toilet or have a drink of water. Visitors to the museum will be appalled to learn that these kinds of working practices, which unions campaign against in companies like Amazon, also exist in an internationally renowned heritage institution.”

He also warned that: “This is part of a pattern with the V&A showing a shocking lack of respect to its employees and fighting fairness at every turn. That’s why our members have also voted to take action across the whole V&A in London.”

Along the road from the V&A, the neighbouring Science Museum has been forced to greatly improve the pay of outsourced security guards as a result of efforts by the United Voices of Workers union (UVW). This independent street union has also won an attendance allowance for all workers. This sees the end to years of below-inflation increases and pay freezes by security contractor Wilson James.

The new agreement raises pay to £14.80 per hour, plus a 25p hourly attendance allowance – taking workers’ pay over the London Living Wage (LLW); the latter now applies to all workers, ending the previous system where only those who completed training in their own time were eligible. This did not come easily: in the previous two years 50 days of strike took place.

Nelly Ospino, the UVW’s new General Secretary, said: “Sustained pressure from the guards has won them another significant pay rise in less than two years. For years, they were expected to protect some of Britain’s wealthiest cultural institutions while being paid poverty wages themselves. This victory was not handed down out of goodwill; workers had to fight for every penny of it. In a matter of months, UVW members have won more through organising and militancy than they had in the previous decade.”

Across the River Thames, at the Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) Prospect members are also taking strike action to secure better conditions after 77 per cent voted in a turnout of 90 per cent for strike action. This will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

The demands are similar: LLW accreditation this year, protection of existing Christmas closure annual leave arrangements, paid breaks for security workers, tougher policies on fixed-term contracts, and improved training and development opportunities.

The retired admirals who run the museum were upset at this act of mutiny and claimed: “We are disappointed by this outcome, particularly given the progress which has been made,” adding that “the remaining areas of dispute relate to a small number of non-pay matters on which the union and RMG has already had a meeting with ACAS.”

by New Worker correspondent