Anchor Trust "Union Busters"

This is an amazing story - so-called “not for profit” Anchor Trust who pay their CEO, Dr John Belcher, £327,000 pa have derecognised Unite following a dispute over a restructure and regrading which has led to pay cuts for many low paid staff.

I have posted here, here and here in the recent past on excessive pay in the social housing sector. The Unite press release points out that some Anchor staff are actually on minimum wage (£5.73 per hour) while Inside Housing report that some relatively poorly paid staff are £1,400 per year worse off. Anchor started off as “Help the Aged" Housing Association.

Unite are appealing to the Central Arbitration Committee over this decision.

Doesn’t anyone in Anchor senior management have any common sense and realise the damage they are doing to their organisation and the social housing movement by such actions? Has massive pay actually gone to their heads in the same way as happened with the Banks? They are now attacking the unions for trying to defend the pay of their members?

Surely local Councillors and Assembly members (of all political parties) who believe in free trade unions must question whether they should have anything to do with Anchor Trust as partners in any future developments until this dispute is resolved. What are the board and the regulators doing about this? I would be very surprised if new Housing Minister Margaret Beckett is very impressed either.