{"id":396106,"date":"2026-04-17T00:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T00:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/396106\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T00:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T00:22:08","slug":"va-faces-calls-to-become-living-wage-employer-on-eve-of-stratford-opening-va","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/396106\/","title":{"rendered":"V&A faces calls to become living wage employer on eve of Stratford opening | V&A"},"content":{"rendered":"

A row over pay has broken out at the V&A before the opening of its newest site , with thousands of people calling for it to become a living wage employer.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, V&A East will open its doors in Stratford, east London, showcasing<\/a> stunning fabrics, photos and black British music. It joins a wider group of V&A museums including its original site in South Kensington, Young V&A in Bethnal Green and V&A Dundee. The V&A describes its latest opening as one of the most significant new museum projects in the UK.<\/p>\n

The original V&A museum opened in 1852. Its mission is to \u201cpromote art and design for all\u201d and to champion design and creativity in all its forms. It holds millions of objects and in recent years has hosted high-profile exhibitions about Taylor Swift and Naomi Campbell, and photographs from Sir Elton John and David Furnish\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n

While the V&A complies with all legal minimum-wage requirements, with some workers paid a living wage or above, campaigners say some of the lowest-paid staff and contractors in London<\/a> are not in receipt of the living wage. The UK minimum wage is \u00a312.71 an hour and the living wage in London is \u00a314.80 an hour.<\/p>\n

According to the Living Wage Foundation<\/a>, the living wage is the only UK wage rate that meets the real cost of living.<\/p>\n

The worker-led platform Organise, which aims to secure better rights in the workplace, and Citizens UK, a campaigning organisation, have coordinated an open letter to the V&A director, Sir Tristram Hunt, and other senior V&A officials, calling for the \u00a314.80 rate for all workers at the museums. So far, more than 21,000 people have signed it. It demands \u201ca fair day\u2019s wage for a fair day\u2019s work\u201d and states that publicly funded institutions such as museums should pay all workers the living wage.<\/p>\n

Many other museums and cultural attractions such as the National Gallery, the National Theatre, the Tate and the Imperial War Museum are accredited living wage employers. V&A\u2019s London sites do not have this accreditation, but V&A Dundee does.<\/p>\n

Roxy Khan-Williams, the head of campaigns at Organise said: \u201cThe public expects institutions funded by taxpayers to treat all workers fairly. Paying the real living wage is not just a moral issue \u2013 it directly affects how people engage with these institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frankie Webster, a community organiser at Citizens UK, said: \u201cAt its heart, the real living wage is about dignity. Everyone deserves to earn enough so that they\u2019re able to live a decent life. It\u2019s time for the V&A to make sure everyone who works there is paid the real living wage.\u201d<\/p>\n

V&A has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A row over pay has broken out at the V&A before the opening of its newest site ,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-396106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}