Shelter, NUT and PCS industrial actions all need our support

The last few weeks we've seen several strikes and industrial actions - I write in this blog about the Shelter strike today and tomorrow - see more below - but also last week the National Union of Teachers strike at many schools across the County and the recent walk out by 200 staff at the Land Registry in Gloucester organised by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union.

Picture; May Day tomorrow.

Both NUT and PCS groups have been offered a below-inflation settlement that represents a real-terms salary cut - just as the credit crunch is biting and the cost of living is going through the roof. Labour have presided over a tax and pay structure for the public services that has seen the gap between the richest and the least well-off stretch even more wide than it was under a Tory government. It must surely now ensure that teachers and other public servants, are given pay rises that reflect the work they do and the current level of inflation.

Of course to do so would cost money, but not doing so calls into question the very future of high quality local public services - but there are plenty of ways to find the dosh - like end the war in Iraq, ditch the ID card nonsense, tax those earning £100.000 more and scrap plans for a Trident replacement.

Indeed at the heart of these actions is the extent to which we value the work of our public servants. Forcing another pay cut on them can only make future recruitment and retention harder and in the case of teachers it will threaten to reverse recent improvements in local schools' performance. See more here re my statement re PCS.

Shelter actions

Green Party Principal Speaker Dr. Derek Wall has pledged in the previous months Green Party support for the workers of the housing charity Shelter, who have taken industrial action after rejecting out of hand a revised contract offer from Shelter managers.

The original dispute erupted earlier in the year, after Shelter managers demanded staff work an extra two and a half hours a week without additional pay - lost income worth an average of £1,700 per person over a year, despite Shelter's 2007 annual report revealing an annual income of £49.1m, with staff costs of £27.7m. I am aware that at least one of those effected lives in Stroud.

The charity's Chief Executive Adam Sampson emailed Shelter employees informing them: 'Those who decide that they are not prepared to work under the new arrangements will, with regret, be issued with notices of dismissal.' Staff are being told that if they want to continue in their jobs, they have to sign the new inferior contracts, on poorer pay and conditions. Union members were recently balloted on whether to accept or reject the new offer. Members voted to reject this, which further escalated the industrial dispute and led to this weeks strike.

Dr. Wall, who was a founder of the Green Party Trade Union, said "There are a number of industrial disputes in the news at present, but I don't think we should forget the demand of Shelter workers for fair pay and conditions. Workers at Shelter originally took industrial action because they were told by the homeless charity managers that their wages must be cut. The Green Party of England and Wales supported the staff strikes then, and we support them now. It is very sad that a charity which tries to tackle social injustice is treating its workers in this manner, and we call on Shelter to reject pay cuts for its hard working staff."

This Shelter dispute is deeply disappointing from a charity that I have supported financially - but the dispute effectively arises out of the government policy of commissioning out of public services to the voluntary or "Third" sector. This was a policy pursued very consiously and vigorously by New Labour as a way of getting public services on the cheap. Voluntary sector organisations are now in competition with the private sector in a race to the bottom to provide the cheapest service. Management at many voluntary sector organisations have have chosen to cheapen their bids by reducing their workers' wages and conditions - this appears to be happening at Shelter. As one commentator wrote: "This government policy is forcing a situation in the voluntary sector of 'survival of those most prepared to slash workers' wages and conditions'."