Protest outside council meeting as housing repair workers continue pay dispute

Members of the Unite trade union continued chanting throughout Tuesday night’s cabinet meeting, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Unite members stage their protest outside George Meehan House (credit LDRS)

Staff from Haringey Council’s housing repairs team staged a noisy protest outside a cabinet meeting last night (Tuesday 5th) as they continue their pay dispute with the local authority.

Members of trade union Unite claim the pay offers the council has made so far amount to a real-terms pay cut after years of below-inflation increases.

Regional officer Simon McCartney spoke outside George Meehan House in Wood Green ahead of the cabinet meeting taking place there. Addressing the crowd of around 35 protesters, Simon said: “We are here at the council meeting tonight because Haringey Council is point-blank refusing to speak to our members in building services.

“We’ve taken eight days of industrial action so far and we’ve another seven days industrial action planned for December.

“Up to this point the council has refused any offer at all, and to top it all they’re using contractors and agency staff to cover our workers while they’re on strike.”

The council has “categorically” denied that it has used agency workers to cover striking staff.

Simon added: “We have a special boo saved for one person in particular, his name is Andy Donald and he’s the chief executive of Haringey Council.”

During the demo, which started before the cabinet meeting and continued for around two hours, protesters chanted “Andy Donald shame on you” and “Haringey Council shame on you” – they could even be heard clearly as the meeting took place inside George Meehan House.

Simon added that the council was using Tory legislation to allow for contractors and agency workers to cover work while the housing team members were on strike.

Speaking on the policy, he said: “That was brought in and specifically designed to undermine workers when they are on strike, signed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg in 2016 to do this specific task the Haringey Council are now using it for.

“They’re hiding behind its legislation used by the Tory government that this Labour council should have no thought of entertaining.”

Update (7th December):

A Haringey Council spokesperson said: “We value our staff and strive to be a fair and welcoming employer, and we recognise that this industrial action is largely a response to the cost-of-living crisis impacting workers across the country.

“We are willing to have constructive dialogue to address some of the concerns that have been raised.

“Unite are claiming that we have brought in agency workers to cover strike action which is categorically not the case.

“This strike comes during a major investment and improvement programme aiming to deliver a high-quality housing repairs service. We want to reassure all our tenants and leaseholders that we are doing all we can to minimise any knock-on effect on our residents during the strike days.”

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