Tristram Hunt, director of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), is on the receiving end of criticism from the two unions, Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and Prospect, which have issued a joint statement calling him to the bargaining table. The union is striking over pay, working conditions, and “dignity at work,” and says his absence from the negotiations is shocking and disrespectful.

Union members at the V&A East Storehouse voted to strike in July over working conditions, just weeks after the new facility’s splashy reveal. They said workers were not given enough time to use the restroom or even drink water and called for two paid breaks per shift. They joined their counterparts in at the museum’s central London facility, who had already voted in favor of action. The museum rejected the union’s characterization of working conditions, saying all staff had sufficient access to water and bathroom breaks, but changed its paid break policy this month to grant the requested breaks.