Centrepoint staff threaten to strike over cuts

Governance | Celina Ribeiro | 3 Oct 2011

Centrepoint staff are meeting today to discuss possible strike action after union members voted to strike over pay cuts.

Centrepoint management, however, have accused Unite the union of misrepresenting its members and not being flexible in negotiations as 112 of the charity’s 212 staff face pay cuts or demotions as part of its restructure of London services. Staff face pay cuts of up to 10 per cent.

Union members will meet tonight to discuss scheduling strikes after 70 per cent of those balloted voted in favour of such action. Centrepoint pointed out that only 60 staff are union members, 25 of whom voted in favour of strikes.

Matt Smith, Unite’s regional manager, said: “There is a clear mandate supporting the view that our members are not prepared to accept that the lowest-paid frontline staff should take savage pay cuts while the senior management keep their pay at the same level.”

Local government cuts have forced the charity to restructure its operations, which it already has done in the north east and at head office.

Unite says that it had got Centrepoint to agree to mediation by Acas, but Centrepoint claims the union left the process and also did not propose any counter-offers to the charity’s offer to reduce the maximum pay cut by 10 per cent. The charity also alleges that staff have made complaints about the way they have been represented by the union. Smith, however, told civilsociety.co.uk that he had not received any such complaints. “I don’t know really what they’re talking about,” he said.

Centrepoint chief executive Seyi Obakin said: “Unite has failed to engage with us throughout the process, resulting in a failure to represent the best interests of its members.

“The union chooses to use out-of-date accounts information to suit its argument and inflated claims of strike support, which just shows how driven it is to damage Centrepoint’s reputation. In fact only 12 per cent of Centrepoint staff have indicated their intention to strike.”

Directory: Centrepoint

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