St Mungo’s has agreed to talks today with Unite the Union after the trade union accused the homelessness charity of undermining the strike undertaken by hundreds of its workers by using agency labour.
A spokeswoman for St Mungo’s said the meeting would go ahead and that the charity was committed to bringing an end to the strike, which began on 27 June. “Our offer is still on the table,” she said.
Last month, according to Unite, workers at the charity turned down an offer to have their pay increased by 3.7 per cent, up from 2.25 per cent, an offer Unite described as “paltry”.
But according to St Mungo’s, the proposed pay rise would have meant 90 per cent of its staff would have received a pay increase of 7 to 14 per cent and that the offer had been negotiated and agreed with Unite and Acas.
The charity is understood to believe that Unite, which represents 800 of its workers, has not taken into account the full extent of the raise it is offering, which it says equates to £2,975 per person.
News of the meeting comes after Unite issued a statement claiming that a recent High Court ruling that employers will be barred from recruiting agency staff during strike action from 10 August would be catastrophic for the charity unless swift action was taken.
According to Unite, the charity is using a number of agencies to cover positions where employees are on strike.
Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, said: “Bosses at St Mungo’s can’t hide behind agency labour anymore in order to pay homelessness workers a pittance. Irresponsibly dragging out this dispute past 10 August will plunge the charity into a crisis.”
Unite regional officer Steve O’Donnell said: “St Mungo’s has been using agency staff to try to undermine our strike but it hasn’t worked. All it has done is drag out the dispute and contribute to a toxic culture. Bosses have been doing workers and the people who rely on the charity a great disservice.”
A spokesperson for St Mungo’s said in a statement that the charity recognised the law regarding the use of agency workers had changed and it was putting in place alternative staffing options to ensure it could continue supporting its clients after 10 August.
“We will be testing our adapted plans in the coming weeks to make sure they are robust,” the spokesperson said.
Asked how many staff it was currently using, the charity was not able to say in time for Third Sector’s deadline.
The St Mungo’s spokesperson said: “Unite’s asks are simply unaffordable for the charity. It is disappointing that they do not recognise the constraints we face, despite us sharing our financial statements with our unions and with colleagues.”
Referring to last month’s pay offer, Unite said in its press release that bosses at the charity had failed to make any attempt to improve the offer in recent weeks, while St Mungo’s said it had met Unite on a further two occasions since the offer was rejected to keep lines of communication open.
The dispute between Unite members and St Mungo’s has been rumbling on for many months.
In May, union members rejected what Unite called a “pitiful” pay increase offer.
That followed an offer from the charity’s bosses to raise the original salary increase from 1.75 per cent to what Unite said amounted to an average of 2.25 per cent per frontline worker, as part of a bid to end the long-running dispute.
Founded in 1969, St Mungo’s had a total income of more than £118m last year, according to accounts filed by the charity. Its expenditure was also £118m.
The charity has 1,550 employees, 10 trustees and 1,297 volunteers, with five members of staff on a salary of more than £100,000.