One Housing workers on strike in 'victimised rep' dispute
Workers at the One Housing Group (OHG) are taking four days of strike action from today (Friday 6 June) in support of the 'victimised' lead Unite rep at the association.
This follows a ballot in which members of Unite, the country's largest union, voted 89 per cent in favour of strike action which started at 08.00 today. It is affecting OHG sites across London and the south east.
The strike is due to end at 08.00 on Tuesday 10 June.
Unite is concerned that its rep is being victimised as he was suspended immediately before a negotiation meeting in which the union would have raised the prolonged six-year pay freeze imposed on staff, but not for the top executives.
Unite said that the hardline OHG management has spurned repeated attempts by the union to discuss industrial relations at the association under the auspices of the conciliation service, Acas.
Unite regional officer Nicky Marcus said:
“Unfortunately, this is an employer with 'form' in terms of the way it treats staff representatives - if they don't like the message, they shoot the messenger.
“This is a particularly inappropriate management style for an organisation responsible for supporting vulnerable clients.
“We would appeal to the management to take up our invitations to talk and to reconsider its hardline approach to industrial relations.”
