Dear friends
Our next members’ meeting is at taking place virtually at NOON TODAY.
Why will so many St Mungo’s workers get more money on strike than when they are at work? In brief, there are two reasons.
The first reason we know only too well. When a charity becomes corporatised, its leaders focus on paying themselves ever higher salaries and become more and more remote from both front-line employees and clients.
At St Mungo’s, our charitable mission is well understood by project workers who burn themselves out struggling to protect their clients. Those same workers are systematically undervalued by senior managers. Workers’ time is spread ever more thinly, so that clients cannot be given the support they need. Obtaining essential equipment becomes a lengthy chore. Workers are warned not to bring grievances, even when the Health and Safety at Work Act has been breached.
This misguided approach from senior management does not help our clients. In 2017, St Mungo’s considered – in the wording of a document which was subsequently leaked – “a new approach in which immigration officials work with outreach workers.” The Home Office paid a fee for each homeless person who was deported with St Mungo’s assistance. The High Court ruled that both St Mungo’s and the Home Office had broken the law. But it was only because of the principle and determination of front-line St Mungo’s workers, with the support of Unite, that this practice was exposed.
It is the mistaken values informing the thinking of those at the top that leaves St Mungo’s workers underpaid. When workers are financially better off on strike, it’s a clear indication that their wages are too low.
The second reason may be less familiar.
It’s because you have the backing of a very powerful union.
Unite is the second-largest union in the country. Is has significant financial resources which, among other things, allow for more generous strike pay than virtually any other union.
If you work regular hours and your annual wages are less than £27,000 you will get more money while on strike. For those whose earnings are £27,000 per year or above, income will be lower on strike days, but probably not by a very large amount. For example, a worker earning £30,000 a year will be worse off by about £8 for each strike day, and a worker earning £35,000 a year will lose about £21 a day.
A strike can have more of an effect on shift workers if the strike falls at a time when they would have worked a lot of hours. Fortunately, the Unite Housing Workers’ Branch has additional funds which can be used for discretionary payments which will top up the standard amounts paid by Unite centrally. The Branch has decided to prioritise shift workers who are at risk of being left out of pocket.
All we are asking for is to maintain the real value of our wages. It is good to know that it will cost us little or nothing to stand up for our rights.
If you have any questions about strike pay, you’re welcome to email me, or bring your questions to the meeting at 12 today. See you then!
Best wishes
Jacob
Jacob Sanders
Unite Convenor, St Mungo’s
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