Security guards at London museums to take strike action

Security guards at the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum Security will go on strike later this month over pay.

The staff, who are not employed directly by the organisations but work for outsourcing contractor Wilson James, will walk out from Friday 25 October to Sunday 27 October.

Guards currently earn £11.95 per hour, higher than the government’s national minimum wage of £11.44 but below both the hourly National Real Living Wage (£12) and the London Real Living Wage (£13.15), which was set nearly a year ago in October 2023.

The United Voices of the World Union, which represents the guards said their last pay rise was 18 months ago, amounting to 4.5%, adding that this was below inflation at the time, which peaked in October 2022 at 11.1%.