11/12/2014

Housing Charity Employees To Go On Strike Over Pay Cuts

The housing charity Shelter is set to be hit by a three-day strike next week as union Unite announced that 400 of its members would be walking out from Tuesday 16 December over pay cuts of up to £5,000 for frontline staff.

Amid warnings that 'cut rate pay' will lead to a 'cut rate organisation', the advice and support workers are angry over the imposition of a new pay scale at the charity leading to pay cuts of up to £5,000 for new starters, with the pay of current frontline staff only being guaranteed until 2016.

The action, hitting the charity's advice and support work, was backed by two thirds (69.2%) of those taking part in a recent strike ballot and follows a continued refusal by Shelter management to negotiate meaningfully.

In addition to pay cuts for new frontline staff, the proposed pay changes have left the charity open to accusations of creating a two tier workforce. The new pay scale only affects frontline staff and will see some advice workers earning several thousands of pounds less than non-frontline colleagues working on the same grade elsewhere in the charity.

Shelter's main offices in London, Glasgow and Sheffield as well as smaller ones in cities such as Manchester and Bristol will be affected by the three day strike, which starts at 00:01 hours Tuesday 16 December and concludes at 23:59 hours on Thursday 18 December.

(CD/JP)

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