Last week’s bid by PropTech referencing agency Goodlord to attract a line beneath its lengthy-operating ‘hearth and rehire’ industrial dispute has been scuppered by a commerce union.
Unite, which represents a few of the employees on the coronary heart of the dispute, is holding a protest tomorrow and says it’s exploring all authorized choices to struggle again towards the corporate.
The protest might be held outdoors Goodlord’s east London HQ tomorrow at 11am with the union demanding the reinstatement of employees which Goodlord claims have ‘left’ the corporate.
More than 20 members of Unite, employed in Goodlord’s referencing division, started strike motion on February 22 over what the union calls “hearth and rehire” contract modifications that resulted in annual pay falling from £24,000 to £18,000.
The unique contracts for round half of the placing employees expired throughout the strike motion. As they refused to enroll to the radically diminished phrases and situations Goodlord was providing, the employees have been dismissed.
A Goodlord assertion final week – which we reported right here – conspicuously didn’t use the phrase “dismissed” and as an alternative stated 9 employees had “chosen to not return to work.”
Recent strikes on the firm have referred to as for Goodlord to reverse the dismissals, halt what Unite describes as “its hostile focusing on of union members and use of company labour to undermine the industrial motion,” and award a pay rise for 2021.
Unite says the employees dismissed final week have been throughout the 12-week protected interval supplied by an earlier poll and have been dismissed for what it calls “an robotically unfair cause.”
The union has additionally refuted Goodlord’s account of the arbitration talks, saying that the corporate refused to barter and as an alternative issued an ultimatum for workers to return to work or depart with pay in lieu of discover.
Unite regional officer Steve O’Donnell says: “Unite is contemplating all our authorized choices to response to the firing of our members by Goodlord. They have been throughout the 12-week protected interval supplied by the April 26 2021 poll and as such have been dismissed for an robotically unfair cause.
“Goodlord’s management has behaved disgracefully from day certainly one of this dispute. They have used the pandemic to opportunistically lower wages by £6,000 and instructed impacted employees they will survive on the poverty wages by shifting out of London and dealing from house. They have introduced in scab employees and hostilely focused placing employees. They have pretended to affix negotiations beneath Acas after which issued extra unacceptable ultimatums.
“When none of those techniques labored, Goodlord fired its employees for having the temerity to push again towards wage cuts that might have made dwelling in London all however inconceivable. I pay tribute to our members for refusing to offer into Goodlord’s calls for and ship an unequivocal message to the corporate that this struggle is far from over.”
