up to 400 staff at the Housing Corporation look certain to go on strike on Monday.
An insider said the action was unlikely to hit payments to registered social landlords, but could have an impact on the IT systems that back up the payments as there is a concentration of Unison members in the IT department.

Trade unions Amicus and Unison decided on a one-day walk-out to protest against restructuring plans after talks between the corporation and staff representatives failed to reach agreement last week.

As Housing Today went to press on Wednesday afternoon, corporation chief executive Norman Perry, head of personnel Peter Bush and union representatives were holding more talks in a last-ditch attempt to resolve the situation.

A corporation spokeswoman said the organisation did not want to comment before it knew the outcome of the meetings.

Unions are protesting against planned changes to pension rights for people taking early retirement under the corporation's restructuring plan. They are also pressing for union involvement on panels that decide the redeployment of staff in the restructure.

Stuart Barber, regional officer for Unison, said: "We're giving the corporation a chance to negotiate something. We are not going in too hard in the first instance. But if things are not resolved before Monday, the action will intensify."

About 400 of the corporation's 600 staff are members of the two unions. Nearly three-quarters of Unison members and just under two-thirds of Amicus members who took part in a ballot last week voted to strike (HT 21 March, page 9).

Source

Housing Today