Key facts
- Prospect and PCS unions suspended planned strikes for October 29 and 30.
- The V&A museum management made an undisclosed improved offer.
- Unions are demanding a 4% pay increase for staff earning above the living wage.
- Unions want the V&A to become an accredited London living-wage employer within 12 months.
- Unions also want time-and-a-half pay for bank holiday working.
Staff at the Victoria and Albert Museum have suspended planned strikes over pay and working conditions after management presented an improved offer. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) will facilitate further talks between the museum and the Prospect and Public and Commercial Services (PCS) unions. The strikes, scheduled for October 29 and 30, would have closed the museum's main galleries and its east London sites. Unions are demanding a 4% pay increase for staff earning above the living wage, accreditation as a London living-wage employer within 12 months, and time-and-a-half pay for bank holidays. They also seek improvements for working during heatwaves and better food provisions at the east London sites.