Workers at the homelessness charity St Mungo’s began four weeks of strike action on Tuesday May 30, fighting to win a backdated pay rise of 10%.
There is a rally of St Mungo’s workers at Hackney Town in east London at lunchtime today, at Westminster tomorrow and outside the London Mayor’s office on Monday.
After picketing loudly all morning outside the St Mungo’s headquarters in Tower Hill east London on the strike’s first day, there was a lunchtime rally on Tuesday.
Speaking on the picket line, Peter, a frontline worker for four years, told News Line: ‘This organisation was set up 50 years ago to help rough sleepers. It used to happen that a formerly homeless person could work at St Mungo’s, but today they can’t afford to.
‘There is a high turnover of staff here. The young are most affected – the rents are so high and they can’t afford to buy a home. It’s not just a battle about pay, it’s about the soul of the organisation.
‘Its not credible that an organisation set to tackle rough sleeping should itself reflect the inequalities that now exist in wider society
‘St Mungo’s appears to be making the same mistake as the NHS in thinking that the recruitment of highly paid managers is the answer to their problems. Take a look at the NHS right now, and there’s your evidence.
‘The organisation has to decide whether it is a charity or a corporate business. If it wants to be a corporate business, then be open about it, so that staff can make an informed decision.
‘We should be linking to the RMT, the nurses and the doctors – this austerity is affecting everyone.’
Elsa, a Unite rep, said: ‘They’ve got £4 to 5 million in their reserves. We support the homeless. We do a range of work and specialise in welfare and debt.
‘We help sort out mental health problems. We run hostels and drop-in centres. We deal with the good and bad (as some vulnerable people get abusive).
‘It’s incredibly hard work – dealing with the vulnerable. Sometimes two people are left to run a hostel at night, which may accommodate 13 to 60 clients. Our job is undervalued. We are doing all the hard physical and emotional work. Councils are commissioning work from St Mungo’s.
‘Mortgages have gone up 7% but our pay has not. Their policy is to bring in more and more agency workers. In one year they spent £1million on agency workers.’
At the lunchtime rally, Steven O’Donnell, Unite regional officer, insisted: ‘They have £13m in reserves and that it is cheeky to say that there was not the money to pay us.’
Peter Cavanagh, Unite London Regional Secretary, compared the current strike to a previous St Mungo’s strike in 2014, saying: ‘You won then and you’re going to do it again. – that was about the company bringing in novice workers for £5,000 a year.
‘You are a dedicated and committed group of workers supporting the most vulnerable in society.
‘Consider the last nine years, in which the salary of the chief executive (CE) has risen from £109,000 to £189,00 compared to frontline salaries which are down 25%.
‘It’s not just about wages, but where they put their resources – up for the managers and down for the frontline.
‘You are St Mungo’s, in the same way that Unite the union is you.
‘You voted 93% for strike action. You’ve said enough is enough. Like workers in the NHS, bus drivers, refuse collectors – when inflation is in double digits that has to be matched with a pay rise.
‘Your employer offered 1.3% in 2022 and 2.25% in 2023. You voted 92% to reject the offer.
‘The CE, who is on close to £200,000 a year, describes your fightback as disproportionate, they say the door is open to Unite through every day of the strike action. I say to them, if you mean that – we don’t need to wait for weeks – open the door today, get round the table and make an honourable settlement.
‘We must stand firm in London Oxford Bristol and all areas and justice will be ours.’
Zac, a frontline worker at St Mungo’s, said: ‘During lockdown, when there was not PPE the CEO told us we were doing a wonderful job. We keep people safe.
‘Now that there is inflation, up to 30% with regard to food, we asked the CEO over the last 18 months for a proper pay rise. We were offered a £700 one-off payment. Shame!
‘We see homelessness rise with the cost-of-living crisis. Thank you for standing up. We voted 93% to come out on strike action. Fantastic. It sends a message to the board that we mean business.
‘We understand the plight of the nurses and doctors. There are 40,000 vacancies in the care sector.
‘All the other homeless organisations are looking at us. The CEO is earning more than the prime minister, yet front line workers are using food banks to top up.
‘We can win this dispute. We stood shoulder to shoulder in 2014 and we won. We know we can win again. We are all lifted up by this rally today. Our strength is collective – stay together and we will win this dispute.
‘It really is a crucial moment in society, where according to Oxfam two thirds of the wealth goes to the top 1%. Money is there. The nurses, posties, railway workers are all demanding fair pay.
‘We represent asylum seekers and the very vulnerable in society. We cannot let racism divide us. A future society will welcome refugees and asylum seekers as well.’
Unite national lead officer for the NHS dispute, Onay Kasab, said: ‘It is bizarre that this employer housed in a piece of the richest real estate in London, cannot offer their staff a fair deal.
‘We will soon be told that inflation is coming down, and poor pay increases are enough. But when inflation comes down, the price increases do not stop, they just increase more slowly.
‘I bring solidarity from brothers and sisters at St Thomas’ Hospital who are on strike on Thursday this week. We can exchange pickets. There is an inextricable link between this situation and what happens in the NHS. Stick together.
‘The message is – we won before and we will win again. And do whatever it takes. This is not a few protests and a glorious defeat.’
Paul Kershaw, from the Unite housing workers branch in London, said: ‘The Unite housing branch is seeking a mandate for Industrial Action at the moment. You are not on your own. The housing ombudsman and the regulator of social housing have got to get real on pay.
‘We were the first branch in Unite to support Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership of the Labour Party. He was the first to call for the building of millions of council houses.
‘We have had over a decade of austerity where the rich got richer. It is a microcosm of your battle. Senior management have increased their pay by 350% over the last 10 years, while you get squeezed on all terms and conditions. You are people who deliver services, and you also defend them.
‘It was Unite that raised publicly that St Mungo’s was cooperating with the Home Office to deport EU rough sleepers. They denied that this was happening.
‘You’ve got a consistent record of defending services, so we don’t take moralising lessons from them. We won before. We’ve got to do it again.
‘The Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health workers – send solidarity greetings to you and describe you as heroes. I also bring a message of support from Housing Group One employees.’
Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told the rally: ‘Thank you for the work you do looking after the very vulnerable – people who have severe complications in their lives, troublesome disruption and who are often cast aside by their families.
‘I know quite a lot of such people from my constituency office. Thank you for the care and empathy you show to such people.
‘One of our great ambitions if we’d won the election, is that homelessness would be over. Housing would be a right for all. This city is more and more divided.
‘I was cycle-riding along the River Lea from Tottenham to the Thames and you meet people living rough, maybe who are drug dependent, and with makeshift shelters.
‘Yet just minutes away are riverside apartments for £1 million, overlooking the Thames. There are tax breaks for the richest. We need equality and fairness in our society.
‘I used to be an organiser for NUPE. It’s a moral imperative if you work in the NHS, in social care or the voluntary sector, you have goodness in your heart, and you believe in it. But you still have to eat, pay rent, catch the bus or the train and attend to children’s needs.
‘After the last 10 years, these workers had at least a 20% fall in income. And yet there are more billionaires than ever. You need that pay increase. A lot of people are supporting you including the people in hostels.
‘At the height of the pandemic I asked Boris Johnson: “at this moment, who’s more valuable – the cleaner in the hospital ward or operating theatre or hedge-fund managers?”. He could not answer.
‘I will write to St Mungo’s on your behalf and contact social media. You’re only asking for an inflation level pay increase.’
