{"id":1956,"date":"2014-10-21T15:19:39","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T14:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=1956"},"modified":"2014-10-22T14:12:57","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T13:12:57","slug":"fighting-whats-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=1956","title":{"rendered":"Fighting for what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fair"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

UNITElive joined striking St Mungo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Broadway workers on a picket line in Central London this morning (Tuesday October 21) in the howling wind and pouring rain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 650 housing charity staff are staging a week-long strike over new management\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attacks on their pay and terms and conditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The new management team imported from Broadway, the junior partner in the recent merger, are trying to force through downgraded policies and procedures, the removal of pay from collective bargaining and lower salaries for new starters creating a two tier workforce.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The workers are scared for both their own and their client\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s futures. To protect their identity we have removed their names.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One member said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI feel really undervalued, scared and shocked at what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening. Not knowing what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening to my pay is so hard.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The housing charity workers are concerned that pay cuts could demotivate staff and have a knock on effect for their clients.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople are saying maybe students will be brought in to do the jobs, which worries me as clients won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get the support they need,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added another member.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The staff support clients with very complex needs, which include mental health issues, substance abuse and previous offences, as well as supporting elderly and vulnerable people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Members told UNITElive that, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very challenging job. We do unsocial hours. Late shifts, early shifts, Saturdays and Sundays. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot to ask for less than \u00c2\u014120,000. We love doing it but we also want to be paid a decent wage in recognition of all of that.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Members are clear \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they are striking for what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fair.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSenior management is claiming the cuts have to be made because of cuts to our funding from the government and the financial situation but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all had pay rises,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 reported one member.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey should be cutting from the top to the bottom not from the bottom and then rewarding that money to those at the top. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unfair and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not right.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Staff are highly qualified. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are skilled, experienced staff. Most of us are educated to degree level and some of us were previously social workers. We do this job because we love London and its people and we want to do everything we can to make it a better place.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

St Mungo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Broadway offers accommodation to homeless people who have either been sleeping on the streets or referred in because they have nowhere else to live.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe offer them employment and training. If they have mental health issues we link them in with the mental health team. We support them and help them get back into independent living.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Management also wants to enforce procedural changes which will compromise employees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ability to defend themselves in diciplinaries and grievances and make it easier for management to force through redundancies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCheap labour, downgraded roles, staff working under minimum standard policies and procedures are never a path to quality in social care,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Nicky Marcus, Unite regional officer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The workers say the only way forward is for management to negotiate with them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you implement changes before the end of a consultation then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no longer a consultation,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added Nicky.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since the dispute began Unite has recruited 250 new members from St Mungo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Broadway.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Seven facts about St Mungo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Broadway<\/strong>
\n1.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0St Mungo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s began helping people sleeping rough off the streets in 1969
\n2.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Rough sleeping has risen nationally by 37 per cent since 2010
\n3.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a052 per cent of clients have issues with substance use
\n4.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a060 per cent of clients have mental health issues
\n5.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0One third of the charity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clients don’t have the necessary literacy skills to complete a form without help
\n6.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a045 per cent of clients are ex-offenders or have been in prison
\n7.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Over the course of 2012\/13, 6,437 people slept rough at some point in London<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UNITElive joined striking St Mungo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Broadway workers on a picket line in Central London this morning (Tuesday October 21) in the howling wind and pouring rain.   The 650 housing charity staff are staging a week-long strike over new management\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attacks on their pay and terms and conditions.   The new management team imported from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[131,88],"wps_subtitle":"Charity workers in week-long strike","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1956"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1956"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1972,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1956\/revisions\/1972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}