Social housing maintenance staff to strike in East of England

Raynsford House in Milton Malsor, Northamptonshire, is a Grand Union Housing Group independent living property

Maintenance staff working for a social housing provider will be going on strike later this week.

Members of the GMB union in Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire will stage their first walkout on Friday in a dispute over pay.

The action will continue on two more dates in September and five in October.

The Grand Union Housing Group (GUHG) said it was "naturally disappointed by the action".

The union said the action came after GUHG refused to negotiate on a 2.1% pay offer.

'Defend living standards'

Rachelle Wilkins, from GMB, said: "Our members keep tens of thousands of homes warm, safe and habitable; they deserve more than a pay offer of pennies.

"Our members are taking strike action to defend their living standards in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.

"Many cannot afford their own rent and mortgage payments."

GUHG, which provides 13,000 social homes across four counties, said that, while the overnight increase on 31 March 2023 was 2.1%, that figure did not reflect rises implemented during the previous 18 months.

A spokesperson said: "Colleagues received a salary increase of over 14%, which was paid mid-year to reflect the difficult market conditions and cost of living.

"In addition to pay rises significantly exceeding inflation, we also honoured our promise to market test salaries to ensure they remained 5% above the median for the industry."

The other strike days beyond Friday will be on 25 and 29 September and 2, 6, 9, 13 and 16 October.

The GMB says managers are "blatantly undermining the strike"

The union has also accused GUHG of "strike breaking", by bringing in contractors to complete work that would normally be done by the striking union members.

Ms Wilkins said: "Workers are outraged that company managers are now blatantly undermining their strike."

A spokesperson for GUHG told the BBC: "Of the 82 trades colleagues we have, action is being taken by a minority who are GMB members.

"We are hopeful that the impact on our customers will be limited and are enormously grateful to the rest of the team and our contractor partners who have stepped up to maintain service delivery."