Staff from housing and homeless charity Shelter walked out for the first day of strike action in Liverpool today - with workers saying they are struggling to pay their bills and keep a roof over their own heads.
Staff members formed a picket line outside the charity's Liverpool headquarters at Holy Trinity Church in Richmond Park for the first day of a two-week walk out. In total around 600 of the charity's staff are walking out in a row over pay.
The action began when Shelter's management imposed a 3% increase, which is significantly lower than the rate of inflation. The Unite union, which represents the staff members at the homeless charity said some workers now fear they could lose their homes.
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On the picket line in Liverpool today, Robert Moore, who has worked at Shelter for more than three years, said: "We want the organisation to come back round the table. These negotiations have been going on for nine months. We are all very passionate about what we do and no one wants this."
Fellow Shelter worker Cat agreed, adding: "This is an absolute last resort, but an offer of 3% during a cost of living crisis is not good enough. We have heard stories from other Shelter workers unable to heat their homes and a mother who couldn't keep their baby warm."
One striking worker, Abby, only joined the organisation last week, she said: "I have only been able to put my heating on once last week, things are really tough."
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "It is unforgivable that workers at Shelter find themselves actually being haunted by the prospect of being made homeless. Shelter has sufficient reserves to pay its hardworking and dedicated staff a decent pay rise but it has chosen not to.
"Our members at Shelter will receive Unite’s complete and unyielding support in their fight for a better deal." The strike action begins today on Monday, December 5, and will end on Friday , December 16.
Shelter’s offices affected by the strike action include its head office in Old Street, London, and offices in Liverpool, Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh, Blackburn, Norwich, Manchester, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Leeds, and Sheffield.
Shelter said that this year it gave all staff a pay rise made up of a 3% consolidated increase and a one-off payment of £1,500. But Unite said the one-off payments would “leave pay rates at unacceptably low levels, and fail to take into account rampant inflation."
Tim Gutteridge, director of finance and strategy enablement at Shelter, said: "Regrettably the cost-of-living crisis is impacting both our colleagues and operational costs, and we are doing everything we can to navigate these challenging economic times. Industrial action is not the outcome we wanted after months of talks with the union, but we fully respect people’s right to strike.
"Our ambition remains trying to support colleagues through this difficult period, while being able to deliver our frontline services and campaign work. This year we gave all staff a pay rise – which for non-management staff means an increase of between 8% and 12.3% - consisting of a 3% consolidated increase and a one-off payment of £1,500."
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