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Homes England and regulator employees on strike
Staff at Homes England and the Regulator of Social Housing are on strike starting today.
Members of the union Unite at both organisations will be on strike for three days following the latest pay review by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the body that still legally encompasses both organisations.
The union has complained that while staff experience pay increases capped at under inflation, thanks to central government’s public sector pay cap, “the agency has found funding to make several high-paid senior appointments”.
The union added that after negotiations, HCA management offered a pay review, which would take two years to report. This, it said, was “unacceptable”.
Adam Lambert, regional officer at Unite, said: “Unite members are taking strike action as an absolute last resort as management has refused to listen to our concerns and has failed to enter into meaningful negotiations.
“After a decade of falling living standards, a proposal for a pay review is far too little too late. Our members will not accept further real terms pay cuts.”
The union also highlighted the HCA’s gender pay gap report, which showed that it has a gender pay gap of 18.4%.
This is well above the civil service average of 10.6%, but is at the national average level. According to Unite, the HCA has said it can’t do anything to address this for at least two years.
One member said: “It seems like they won’t listen unless we go on strike. They’ve published this ‘people plan’ with lots of nice words about how all staff will be treated with dignity and respect but obviously a bit less if you’re a woman because male colleagues doing the same jobs are on higher salaries.”
Iain Brookes, chief people’s officer at Homes England, said: “We are disappointed that Unite are taking strike action. We have already committed to reducing the gender pay gap as quickly as possible. We urge Unite to work with us to develop a detailed action plan and options for the 2018/19 pay award and a new long term reward strategy.”
