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London council repair staff to strike over annual leave
Repair and maintenance workers at a London council are set to strike over claims that higher-paid colleagues receive more days of annual leave.
Nearly 160 essential housing and estate service workers at Southwark Council are planning to strike next week (28 to 30 January).
Unite the Union, which is representing the workers, said staff who carry out repairs and maintenance on council-owned housing stock and the council’s properties get up to 12 fewer days annual leave than management grades in administrative positions.
The lowest-paid technicians get two fewer days than higher-paid colleagues in the same department, Unite said.
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Workers in the housing and estate team currently start on 27 days annual leave per year, while those in senior, executive roles receive an extra nine days. This can rise to 12 additional days with long service – a total of 39 days.
Unite said Southwark Council has “refused to compromise or offer additional leave to housing workers to bring them up to the same level”, despite negotiations.
Throughout the strike, the union said maintenance and repair work across Southwark’s estates will be severely delayed or not take place at all.
Sharon Graham, general secretary at Unite, said: “Our members repair and maintain homes to ensure they are fit for habitation, and yet are being told they can’t have the same number of days leave as the number-crunchers in head office.
“That is just plain wrong, and our members are prepared to take strike action to show their anger at such policies. They will have the full backing of their union in this dispute.”
Mary Summers, regional officer at Unite, added: “Our members perform a vital role for the council in all weathers, making sure Southwark residents have homes in good condition.
“Yet, they are being told they don’t deserve the same amount of annual leave as the fat cats in head office. We won’t stand for such unfair policies.”
A Southwark Council spokesperson said: “The council highly values the contribution of our hard-working housing teams.
“Our existing annual leave framework was negotiated and agreed with trade unions and we are currently working closely with trade unions to review our approach.
“We will continue to provide an emergency repairs service to our housing tenants during the industrial action.”
The council added that it was undertaking a review of annual leave in agreement with Unite and other trade unions, which is due to be completed by 31 March.
In June 2024, Inside Housing revealed that Southwark had not carried out proactive electrical safety tests in its homes since at least 2018.
Southwark, which owns around 36,800 homes, received a C3 grade for consumer standards from the Regulator of Social Housing.
Among the English regulator’s findings, it said Southwark Council had failed to self-refer over the lack of smoke alarms despite “over 50%” of its homes not having a device.
At the time, Kieron Williams, leader of Southwark Council, apologised after admitting its tenants had been “let down” by its consumer grade.
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