By Pete Firmin
On Wednesday 5th July Unite members at St Mungo’s homelessness charity voted to reject the latest pay offer from management. St Mungo’s increased its pay offer from 2.25% to a paltry 3.7% at a time when inflation is 11.3% and food inflation is at 18.4%. This is despite St Mungo’s having £16 million in cash and substantial reserves. The pay offer was rejected by a margin of 62%.
According to the annual accounts, the CEO’s pay stands at £189,000 while the lowest paid frontline worker is on £20,000. Another highly paid executive has recently been brought in on a salary advertised at £130,000 but could be getting even more. Over the last ten years senior manager’s pay has increased by 385% whilst front line pay had decreased by 30% in real terms. This is the corporatisation of St Mungo’s.
This is a repeated concern of the St Mungo’s workers: that the charity (like many other organisations in the not-for-profit sector) is becoming increasingly corporatised – less about the service it should be offering to the homeless and vulnerable and more about high pay at the top.
For the strikers, there are also other issues, such as bullying and harassment that they want addressed.
St Mungo’s 500 Unite members initially came out for four weeks’ continuous strike, but, in the absence of any increased offer from management decided to take indefinite action from 27th June.
As well as the pickets at their workplaces, strikers have been holding regular protests in front of St Mungo’s head office in the City of London. Lively and noisy, these are also an opportunity to share reports of how the strike and negotiations – when they happen – are going. St Mungo strikers also got a rapturous welcome when several of them went on stage at the NEU strike rally in London on the day they rejected the latest offer.
What you can do to help the St Mungo’s strikers win:
- Support their picket lines across southern England including in London, Bristol, Brighton, Oxford, Bournemouth and Reading.
- Invite the strikers to union and Labour Party meetings.
- Contribute to their strike fund, individually or through your branch here
- Many local authorities work with St Mungo’s. Get your Council, Councillors and MP to write to St Mungo’s urging them to make a realistic pay offer.
Keep up to date with news of the strike here and on twitter.
Pete Firmin is Vice-Chair of Brent Trades Council
Image: c/o Pete Firmin
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