Staff were offered a real-terms pay cut by management
Workers at housing charity Shelter are being balloted for industrial action in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
It comes as around 550 workers, members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, have been offered a below-inflation 1.5 per cent pay rise.
Shelter’s management have refused to negotiate with Unite on pay.
Shelter is a leading housing and homelessness charity, which was set up in 1966.
One of its core aims is reducing poverty.
Its latest financial report from earlier this year showed income totalled £81.33 million in 2023/24. This is £7.67m, or 10%, higher than the previous year due to a significant increase in donations.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "It is completely unacceptable for an anti-poverty charity such as Shelter imposing such an unfair deal on its staff, especially the lowest-paid, when it is in a very healthy financial position.
"Unite will not stand by and allow our members to be forced into taking a substantial real terms pay cut, they will have our full backing throughout this dispute."
As well as pay, Shelter staff are being balloted on conditions. For the past three years, Unite has been in discussions with Shelter over a four-day week with the organisation offering that as part of a pay deal in previous years to run trials in conjunction with consultants.
However, Shelter has now withdrawn completely from four-day week discussions, despite Unite moving its position from a four-day week to a nine-day fortnight and offering to delay a trial until all of Shelter's current contracts are completed to minimise disruption.
The ballot closes on 19 November. If successful, strike action could begin in early December to tie in with the run up to Christmas, a very busy time for the charity.
Unite regional officer Peter Storey, said: "Shelter is guilty of attempting to impose such a miserable pay deal on staff and shutting down conversations around the four-day week.
"Any strike action will be very disruptive, but this is of Shelter's own making. Management must come back to negotiations with an improved offer to avoid this."
Tim Gutteridge, chief operating officer at Shelter, said: “At Shelter and Shelter Scotland we are proud to be a good employer and an accredited Real Living Wage organisation. Our ambition remains to fairly compensate our colleagues whilst also allowing us to deliver sustainably on our mission as the housing emergency worsens.
"Despite nine months of negotiations with Unite, we are disappointed that we have not been able to agree this year's pay deal for staff. We believe it is right to move forward and ensure a pay rise for colleagues before Christmas. We remain open to further discussions on our offer of a reduction in weekly hours with no loss of pay, but we do not believe we can implement a four-day week without impacting jobs and the people we help.
“Industrial action is not the outcome we wanted but we fully respect people’s right to strike. We await the outcome of this ballot.”
