Council homeless workers to strike in pay grade dispute

Seventy workers in Glasgow City Council’s Homeless Service will walk out this lunchtime in a dispute over their pay grade.

The workers are all members of the trade union UNISON and will are taking strike action in a dispute over the application of the council’s job evaluation scheme to the role of Homelessness Caseworkers.

The dispute centres on the grading applied to the employee’s pay scale. Currently, the workers are on Pay Grade 5 (£21,000 to £24,500) whereas others doing a similar job, in other departments, are on Pay Grade 6 (£25,500 to £30,000).

Ian Leech, UNISON Glasgow Social Work Convenor, said: “These workers have been unfairly treated for years in that their jobs should have been graded the same as other frontline staff in addiction services or older people’s teams. They have been very patient and hoped that the matter would be addressed by the council, indeed over the years some managers have informally said that they agree with the trade union position.

“Our members care about the people who rely on the service which they provide however, they have been left with no other option. All they are looking for is to be treated the same as the other 400 social care staff who do a similar job.”

The workers assess the needs of homeless people and families across Glasgow, organise crucial support and help people to access and maintain emergency, temporary and permanent accommodation. The seventy workers have nearly 3,000 people on their caseloads.