| Workers on the picket line outside the charity’s offices on Courthouse Square, said the blow would have a huge effect on the quality of service the charity is able to offer homeless people in the city.
Andy Locke, shop steward for union, Unite, said, “What they’ve proposed is workers may have to increase their hours with no extra pay. Some staff could lose as much as £5500 a year.”
He added the reduction in pay may mean the organisation is not able to recruit and retain the motivated and skilled staff for which it has become known.
The union alleges that despite meeting with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, the charity has pushed through the contract changes by “force” by issuing dismissal notices to those staff who refused to accept the pay cut.
The charity’s management claim they need to make the changes to staff contracts to reduce core costs and the low number of staff voting for the action do not give a legitimate mandate for strike action.
Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson said, “We made it clear to managers and staff our offer at Acas was full and final. This has not changed.
“We hope the union will reconsider its position and we can move our working relationship forward.
“We believe the vote of 19.5% of staff is not a legitimate mandate for further strike action and in the interests of our service users and the whole organisation the dispute should now be concluded.”
The picket in Dundee was followed by a rally in the TGWU offices on Blackness Road.
As part of the UK-wide strike, Shelter founder and award-winning cinema director Ken Roach is on strike with workers in Manchester today. Last month he urged the public to stop donating money to the charity until the pay dispute is resolved.
The action is the latest in a series of strikes by the charity’s workers across the UK. |
