Workplace Report July 2023

Bargaining news

St Mungo’s workers on indefinite strike

St Mungo’s workers have voted to go on indefinite strike at the homelessness charity. The action is over the imposition of a 1.75% pay rise in 2021, increased to a “pitiful” pay offer of 2.25% this April – a real terms pay cut, given the period of high inflation.

The workers, who are already four weeks into strike action, have tried unsuccessfully to engage with the highly paid CEO and management. As well as the pay issue, they say the creeping “corporatisation” of the charity and cuts to frontline staffing have made their jobs much harder and reduced the quality of the service they can provide to their homeless clients. Burnout is a problem, as is recruiting new staff. Disputes are not new at St Mungo’s. Back in 2019, the charity hired union-busters to try and discourage workers from organising