Rochdale housing workers to vote for strike action over low pay

Unite union

Members of Unite, working in a Rochdale housing association, are to be balloted for strike action in a dispute over low pay.

The 170 plus members of Unite, employed by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), have seen their pay cut by 21.7 per cent in real terms in recent years, as a result of a series of pay freezes and below inflation pay increases. 

Unite members have rejected a below inflation pay offer of two per cent. However, rather than return to the negotiating table RBH instead imposed the pay offer on the staff, which has caused widespread anger and damaged industrial relations.

Workers will begin balloting for industrial action, including strike action on Wednesday 8 May and the ballot will close on Wednesday 29 May. If the membership votes for industrial action, strikes could begin in June.

Unite regional officer Tanya Sweeney said: “Members of Unite will not accept a further real terms pay cut. Year on year workers have been getting poorer.

“Industrial relations have been further damaged by the ham-fisted manner in which the management at RBH has gone about responding to the dispute. Rather than return to negotiations, they instead imposed the offer, which has just caused further ill feeling among staff.

“If RBH wants to avoid strike action then it needs to return to the negotiating table with an offer which at least begins to meet our members’ expectations.”

Gareth Swarbrick, RBH Chief Executive, said: "Our pay award of 2% represents an above-inflation pay rise for employees and it is in line with the average award across the social housing sector.

“This is only the second year that RBH have not been bound by the outcome of the national local government pay negotiations. Last year following local negotiations with Unison and Unite we implemented an above-inflation increase of 2.3% for our lowest paid employees and 1.8% for those in higher graded roles.

“This year our employees received the 2% increase in their April pay packets, rather than much later in the year, as has happened in previous years under the national pay agreement. It is not reasonable to expect colleagues to wait for the increase with the uncertainty of not knowing how much they will be paid, and many of our 600 colleagues have expressed support for this approach.

“We pay all our apprentices and trainees the Living Wage, and we introduced the new Living Wage rate in December 2018 rather than April 2019, so our lowest-paid employees received the benefit of this year’s increase early. We have been an accredited Living Wage employer for over five years, and we have a positive gender pay gap. We also know that the RBH pay and benefits package benchmarks extremely well with other employers in the local area.

“RBH is a charitable mutual housing society. Over 90% of RBH's income comes from rents and service charges paid for by our tenants, and any surplus is used to improve existing homes and build new homes.

“Despite the continued constraints resulting from the impact of the four-year one percent rent cut on our income we are committed to making sure that Rochdale is a great place to live and work, and we will continue to invest in our employees to achieve this.”