More than 600 workers at the housing and homelessness charity Shelter are beginning an “unprecedented” fortnight of strike action on Monday in a dispute over pay – coinciding with one of its busiest times of the year.
The Unite union said a 3% pay increase this year had left some of Shelter’s staff unable to pay their rent and very worried about the possibility of becoming homeless themselves.
Shelter said some of its services would be “temporarily impacted” during the strike, but added: “We are making every effort to continue to serve those in need of our help.”
The two weeks of strike action will see its staff join postal and rail employees and workers across a number of other sectors who are taking part in industrial action over pay in what has been called “the December of discontent”.
Unite said the imposed pay deal was “a huge real-terms pay cut”, adding that the latest annual retail prices index (RPI) inflation rate announced last month was 14.2%.
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 has said the one-off payments would “leave pay rates at unacceptably low levels, and fail to take into account rampant inflation”.
The union claimed the charity’s management had “refused to enter into meaningful negotiations” with its representatives, and said talks at the conciliation service Acas collapsed last Thursday. The strike action is due to end on Friday 16 December.
Shelter offers advice and support on housing issues and homelessness, runs a free emergency helpline open 365 days a year, has solicitors who provide free legal advice and attend court in some cases, runs national campaigns and carries out research.
Unite said Shelter’s reserves last year stood at about £14.5m, substantially higher than its target reserves of £8.9m, and that it was “fully able to make a fair pay offer”.
Shelter locations affected by the strike action include its head office in Old Street, London, and offices in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh, Blackburn, Norwich, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Leeds, and Sheffield, said the union.
Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, 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.”
Tim Gutteridge, Shelter’s director of finance and strategy enablement, 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.”
Its ambition remains “trying to support colleagues through this difficult period while being able to deliver our frontline services and campaign work”.
Shelter said that anyone who needed urgent housing advice should visit its website to access its digital advice and services information.
