Workers' Liberty

After two days of strike action, bosses at Shelter, an organisation providing services to the homeless, have agreed to put "on hold" their plans to cut workers' pay and conditions.

The bosses made the concession at a meeting with TGWU-Unite shop stewards on Monday 17th. The dispute now goes to negotiations at the official conciliation service ACAS, and further strikes planned for 19 and 20 March have been suspended.

Workers unused to striking, in a sector unused to strikes, have shown that the solidarity they displayed in the strikes on 5 March and 10 March, and in the prospect of further strikes on 19-20 March, can win victories.

Not, of course, until they had been given a sharp lesson in capitalist ways by the Shelter bosses, who are trying to shift the organisation from a charity to something more like a contractor bidding for public-sector contracts. The Shelter bosses had given themselves big pay rises and a lavish refurbishment for their main office in London, while proposing to cut wages and conditions drastically for ordinary Shelter workers.

Supporters of the Shelter workers should remain vigilant in case the bosses prove obdurate in the talks at ACAS. But a first victory has been won.

AWL bulletin for Shelter strike on 10/03/08
AWL bulletin for Shelter strike on 05/03/08
From Charity To Capitalist Contractor?: report on the 5 March strike
Unite To Ballot Workers At Shelter, January 2008
Shelter Workers Await Ballot Result, February 2008
Shelter And The Housing Crisis, May 2007