The strike by security guards at the Natural History Museum (NHM) continued over the past weekend. Management, in response, have gone on the offensive.
The security team are demanding a £16 an hour wage and the right to sick pay from day one of employment. Currently they get nothing, then after 5 years (!) they get two months’ sick pay. They are demanding to be brought in-house.
That’s what you call a picket line!
Thank you so much to all who joined UVW’s brave security guard members striking for fair pay (£16 p/hr) &
Respect at the Science & Natural History museums.It was joyous, peaceful and powerful and we couldn’t have don’t it without you
🤙🏾👍🏽✊ pic.twitter.com/iKvt7cjeVP— United Voices of the World (@UVWunion) October 28, 2024
There are guards who have been with the museum for 15-20 years, and they get zero benefits, meaning they miss out on the museum’s public sector pension scheme as well.
Scandalously, on Saturday 23 November, the head of security at NHM called the police on the strikers, attempting to have them taken away. But when the police arrived, they said there was nothing they could do and that the strike was allowed to continue!
Management have also hired more non-union organised security guards to try to keep the museum operating and crush the strike.
Nevertheless, the strike caused huge disruption to the running of the museum, with several entrances having to close multiple times throughout the day.
Hundreds of visitors had to be turned away due to enormous queues, with visitors having to wait over two hours to get into the building.
Management have carried on telling the workers inside the museum “stay away from the strikers”.
United Voices of the World (UVW), the union organising the security guards, has said that several more weeks of strike action will continue into the new year.
To make sure the security guards do not become isolated, all efforts must be taken to unite with workers inside the museum.
Already, security guards at the Victoria & Albert Museum are balloting to join their colleagues on strike at the NHM and Science Museum.
From the start of the strike, the NHM Visitor Experience team has wholeheartedly supported its security guard colleagues.
They work to keep us, as well as our visitors safe, they should be treated with respect and given the same in-house benefits as any other museum staff member.
When balloted recently, 67% of Visitor Experience staff organised in the union Prospect rejected an existing pay deal. The mood is in favour of taking strike action, especially after the inspirational example of the security guards.
The UVW has the potential to reach out to the museum workers in a much more active and coordinated way to strike together.
It is clear that to fight the management’s offensive, UVW and Prospect should unite and coordinate their forces.
Outflank the management’s offensive! For united, coordinated action of all museum staff!
A Strike at the Museum 2: Battle of the Strikesonian
Adam U, Imperial College RCP
[This letter refers to a picket which took place on 31 October.]
The security workers of the Science Museum gave their bosses a fright this past Halloween.
Thank you so much @RealMediaGB for this great coverage of the first picket of security guards at the @sciencemuseum & @NHM_London outsourced to @WilsonJamesLtd
All they’re asking for is fair pay & negotiations
They’re back on strike tonight & will be picketing tomorrow early https://t.co/2pXIrKmkth
— United Voices of the World (@UVWunion) October 30, 2024
The museum was hosting their ‘Halloween at the Museum’ event and the workers set up a picket directly beside the queue, shouting their demands for a living wage and better working conditions.
Their pay has been increased at only half the rate of inflation since 2011, which is nowhere near enough, especially given the current cost-of-living crisis.
They are demanding paid sick leave, which they are currently denied, and a fair living wage of £16 per hour, which takes into account the amount in real terms which has been lost to inflation over the years.
How did the bosses respond to this? They have simply refused to even negotiate. While feigning concern about other issues not related to pay, they have told the workers to wait until next year to discuss wage increases. What a farce!
Between 2019 and 2021 alone, management’s profits doubled! And yet they have the gall to claim they don’t have the money to pay their workers fairly.
