Maintenance workers on Liverpool's 21,600 council houses are due to strike today after workers from one union voted eight to one in favour of industrial action.
The increasingly bitter dispute began as a protest over the cutting of 20 jobs by contractor Interserve, which the union has described as behaving like a "19th-century mill owner".

Members of the T&G union, which has 110 members at Interserve, will stage a one-day walk-out today, in a move that may be a precursor to more sustained action.

All of the workers made redundant, the first three of which left the company this week, are T&G members.

Last year Liverpool got no stars for its housing service from the Audit Commission and is due to be re-inspected next year. It has a 17,100-home repairs backlog.

Members of three of the four other unions at the company have also voted in favour of strike action. Only Unison will not strike.

Interserve says it was forced into the measures when Liverpool council slashed its maintenance budget by £7m after transferring 13,000 homes to three housing associations earlier this year.

Giles Scott, head of corporate communications for Interserve, said: "We've been trying to resolve this for six months now and we have gone down from 71 to only 20 compulsory redundancies. The reality is that we've had a huge cut in our business. Unfortunately, some appear not to accept that fact."

Source

Housing Today