Citizen Housing is a housing association based in the West Midlands, with over a thousand staff and 30,000 homes.
Unite members at Citizen have taken strike action over pay and won an improved offer: £500 plus a 4.5% backdated pay rise, up from the initial offer of 3.2%.
A Citizen Housing rep told the Unite housing workers branch:
A new fighting team of reps definitely impacted events. The dispute was mainly about pay, but it was also about making up for previous years when pay settlements had been low. Some years ago, trades workers had experienced pay cuts of up to £13,000 so they feel especially aggrieved.
There was another element of defending the union, as management were definitely out to attempt to break us. They failed, we won.
Management underestimated our numbers and our determination to fight. They thought we had fewer members than we did, because they were only looking at members who were on ‘check-off’ (union fees taken from wages), whereas most of our members are now on direct debit.
They were so bullish early on but got a rude awakening. They told us there was no more money and we would have to ballot our members. So we did, and we got an 87% vote in favour of strike action on a 67% turnout.
We prepared well for the strike by holding focus groups, union open days, meetings in the mess room, and we even managed to get a piece on the company website about our proposals.
Our regional official sent out multiple emails, we made sure that each member received at least two calls from the reps. In addition, we had a WhatsApp group where we were able to answer all the members’ concerns.
Strike grew union
Membership grew in the run up to the strike, during the strike, and it is still growing now. We had members join us from Unison who were displeased with the fact that their union had not balloted and kept them in the dark about what was going on. Workers joined up on the picket line and more are joining after the victory.
We enjoyed great support from the workers with hundreds on the picket lines. 180 walked out on the first day of the strike and more joined as the strike rolled on. The picket lines were very vibrant, it was a great atmosphere. We had two picket lines, one in Birmingham and another in Coventry. The Strawbs ‘You can’t beat me, I’m part of the union’ was on repeat.
We had great support from the local community and other Unite branches. Reps went to speak at various Unite branches in the Midlands to get financial and political support. We had support from the local trades council as well as the former Socialist MP Dave Nellist. People from Acorn, the local trades council and the Socialist Party visited the picket line to show solidarity.
The strike has brought us much closer together. It has been the best team-building exercise ever. Workers who do not normally come into contact with one another met each other on the picket line. Office workers and the trades were brought together.
We now want to prepare for next year’s pay deal, and fight for improvements to terms and conditions, in particular fighting for a reduction in the working week.
