Banging the drum over pay

“Most of us are women, and lots of us are single parents, so it was a massive decision to go on strike”. It’s 8 o’clock on a Monday morning in Glasgow and Mary Docherty (pictured above) is banging a drum outside the city council chambers with around 30 of her colleagues. We’re at a rally of homelessness case workers employed by Glasgow City Council who are in their twelfth week of striking. They’re a small group outside the imposing building their employers occupy in George Square, but they’re making a lot of noise. The workers assess the housing needs of the city’s most vulnerable, supporting them to access emergency, temporary and permanent accommodation. They are striking because others employed by the council doing similar work are on a higher pay band and receive around £5,000 more than them, and while their jobs have grown their pay has not been reassessed since 2007. Last resort Going on strike was the group’s last resort. Lesley McGhee, a single mum with two daughters, said: “We’d gone through the grievance procedure, we’d done everything we could to try and get them to engage with us. We felt we had no other option, but it’s still quite scary sometimes. I don’t think any of us thought we would be out this long.” Supporting homeless people is a difficult job and the workers feel forgotten and unappreciated. Frank Martin, a striker who is the only earner in his family, tells me they have to have knowledge of all the factors that lead to h...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Magazine glasgow homeless local government pay 2014 Source Type: news