Over 600 workers at the campaigning charity Shelter have started a fortnight of strike action in what the trades union Unite calls “a bitter dispute over pay.”
Shelter’s management has imposed a three per cent pay increase in 2022 which Unite claims has left many of its own staff being unable to pay their rent leaving them haunted by being made homeless.
A statement from the union says: “The imposed pay deal is a huge real terms pay cut of 11 per cent with the true inflation rate (RPI) now standing at 14.2 per cent. The dispute has become increasingly bitter as the charity’s management has refused to enter into meaningful negotiations with representatives of Unite over this year’s pay deal and has instead sought to impose one-off payments and real terms pay cuts for the next 16 months.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham says: “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 par 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 will end on Friday 16th December.
Peace talks collapsed at the conciliation service ACAS last week; according to the union, management refused to increase the pay offer for 2022, instead proposing a pay increase of four per cent for 2023/24 with no further pay increase for staff until April 2024.
Unite says this amounted to a further substantial pay cut of at least 10 per cent for its staff.
The total pay cut Shelter’s over two years amounts to 21 per cent. With inflation still rising, the real terms pay cut will go higher over the next 16 months when the next pay review is due in April 2024.
Unite says that when its representatives presented testimonies of their colleagues who are worried about being evicted or are unable to keep their house warm with a newborn baby and have mounting debt, management withdrew its offer.
The statement continues: “Unite believes that Shelter is fully able to make a fair pay offer. Its reserves last year stood at around £14.5m, substantially higher than its target reserves of £8.9m.”
Unite cites one of Shelter’s striking staff members as saying: “At the very base level, absolute bare minimum, those working for a housing charity shouldn't be experiencing housing insecurity as a result of being unable to pay rent.”
Another adds: “I'm a single parent. I'm now in overdraft every month. I go around switching my lights off. I have turned my boiler down. I get stressed when the kids’ school wants me to pay for another school trip. The best acknowledgement my employer can give me for all my hard work is decent pay.”
Shelter’s offices 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, Newcastle and Sheffield.
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600 ‘workers’ agitators more like. How on earth do they get away with this as a charity. The disgusting scam that is Shelter has turned on its own
If we as landlords had even a tenth of that amount working for us. I’m blown away with this figure. And they are now striking?
World has gone mad
When they run out of people to attack they turn on themselves
Says it all really
The far-left eating their own.
These trouble makers and home wreckers would be better off working elsewhere. How about in a letting agency trying to actually provide homes rather than reduce the supply?
Oh the irony, a housing charity being part responsible for their staff being homeless, even Hollywood would not think it credible.
Makes me laugh.......And they deserve it.
Bunch of loonies.
Thats cheered me up this morning haha
Great own goal Shelter - take a leaf our of our book (LLs) who charge a fair rent - pay your staff a fair wage and we can all be happy. Seems you are contributing to homelessness on two fronts - running down and destroying the PRS and not paying your staff enough to rent! its only going to get worse with the action you take!
Be interesting to see what the hierarchy are being paid? And did they get bonuses too, I wonder?
You can find it in their Annual Report on their website. Polly Neate was on about £132k
Instead of spending £45 million on various anti-landlord campaigns why not build a few actual houses and solve the homeless problem and become landlords? Oh no they wouldn't dream of being so constructive, far easier to attack a group of generally innocent law-abiding people!
Polly called it “advocating” in a Sky News article published on Friday. They do a lot of advocacy and cause even more homelessness as a result.
It’s well time to scrap THE WHITE PAPER and reinstate Section 21 and 24 look at the damage and homelessness you have deliberately caused.
Shelter has been a prime mover
Pushing in those Laws like the 2015 de-Regulation’s Act, the Deposit Scheme, the ‘How 2 Rent’ requirement wasting my time as if Tenants didn’t know how to rent.
They are not Elected Representative and shouldn’t be making those Law or invited to the Parliamentary Select Committee to advise on Housing Policy, when I goes to the Butcher I do ask the Butcher not the Block.
When I buy from Screwfix & others they remind me if I want to round up the price for Charity the answer is always no in case it goes to Shelter, (strangely they never let you off when it’s a few pence over).
So RPI is 14.2% and my Tenants didn’t have a Rent increase in other words they had a big Rent cut, but they didn’t have any Rent Rise for a number of years, many Landlords in this position,
incidentally I Reduced my Rents during Covid and still have reinstated them.
Mr Michael Gove please take note of this when you are blabbing about fairer Renting or buy yourself a sleeping bag.
They could of course provide all of their staff with a home all at LHA rates, see for themselves how that works out, Polly might have to take a pay cut though
I off into Norwich today I'll take a walk past their office and see if there's a picket line lol
Just imagine a shelter worker ringing up work, "help, I can't pay my rent"
I’ve always called this a business. With cash reserves 600 plus employee’s. And a six figure earning ceo. People need to wake up and see this company for what it really is. Closing it down and redistributing the money to local charities who help people on the ground would be a much bigger help to those who need it. Shelter the charity (business) that houses no one. But employs many . Lets remember they bring no more to the table than citizens advice , they genuinely help and are very underfunded.
There's a dozen of them outside the Norwich office today, I stopped and spoke with them, we agreed that any pay increase under 11.1% would be a wage cut, but they did not agree that a rent increase of under 11.1% would be a rent reduction, I can't get my head around their reasoning on that one
I can… do as I say, not as I do !!
At least they proved we shouldn't waste our pity on them, other than to pity their delusional views.
Mr Michael Gove, its well time to wake up to the unbelievable damage and homelessness you are presiding over.
260’000 private landlords have exited the market because of your WHITE PAPER and removal of Section 21 well done.
27’000 properties Sold Subject to Contract in November have fallen through / didn’t complete and back on the Market.
Have you smelled any coffee
yet or did you go to the same School as Elizabeth Truss.
Micheall, Liz truss was doing the right thing, in essence she was trying to get the economy going, not plunging it into a recession which hunt and Sunak have done. Lgis were blamed for the demise of Truss, but they appear to be pension funds gambling in order to boost their returns. Who ever knew ?
Oh dear, what a pity, Never mind ( as Windsor would say )
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