Workers at homeless charity St Mungo’s have today launched a month-long strike in a dispute over pay.
Members of the Unite union is mounting a picket line outside its Brighton offices, as well as offices in London, Bristol and Oxford.
The union said the walkout was over a “pitiful” pay offer of 2.25%.
Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham said: “Charity workers who should be on the streets helping the homeless have reached breaking point.
“The workers are now taking a stand.
“Instead of seizing the initiative to end the dispute, management’s decision to offer a pitiful 2.25% has spectacularly backfired.
“Now St Mungo’s faces a month-long strike and the workers have Unite’s total support.
“The pitiful pay offer has just made everyone in the union angrier.
“St Mungo’s have the answer in their own hands.
“Make Unite members a decent pay offer.
“Their indifference to the financial pressures facing their own staff is quite frankly astonishing.”
Emma Haddad, chief executive of St Mungo’s, said: “Our latest offer, combined with the annual pay rise proposed by the National Joint Council, would have meant a pay rise of at least 10% for those colleagues on the lowest salaries.
“This is what Unite has been asking for but voted against it.
“After all our efforts to find a solution to this dispute, a four-week strike is unprecedented and disproportionate.
“It will impact vulnerable people at risk of or recovering from homelessness.
“My door remains open to Unite, every day during the strike.”
Not many people can afford to strike for a month. Who can live without a month of pay? They must be pretty well paid already.
Daily Mail logic at work here – if workers can afford to strike they don’t deserve a pay rise and if they can’t afford to strike they don’t get one. Good luck to anyone whose pay is going down against inflation taking action to stop their wages being cut
I suspect what is more accurately, and certainly less disingenuously inflammatory, is that they knew this was coming for a while and prepared for it, and particularly being in a service that helps people survive on basically nothing, are likely to be pretty good at it.
Ultimately, we shouldn’t be arguing over the small increases for those at the the bottom of the financial working ladder, but look at how much those are earning at the top and reducing accordingly. It’s about fair distribution of wealth, those at the top end shouldn’t be earning orders of magnitudes above those at the bottom.
Not really a charity eh ? I hope their pension fund is in good health…
Some of the biggest profit margins in the world are earnt by charities, Chris.
The chief executive of this charity earns more than the Prime Minister (£189,000). Something’s not right and no-one goes on strike for the laugh of it.