On Thursday morning (13 November) a vibrant and noisy picket and protest took place outside the historic Bank of England, in the heart of the City of London, against a pay freeze.
With RPI inflation running at 4.5%, and food prices soaring 37% since 2020, a pay freeze is, in reality, a massive pay cut.
Left Horizons managed to speak to Keith Henderson – the Regional Officer of Unite, responsible for the security staff employed by Amulet – the security contractor to the Bank.
LH – So what is this all about, today.
We are here today on a strike action because Amulet security have been stringing along Unite for about seven months saying that there would be a pay offer. They have finally come clean that there would be no pay offer because the Bank of England won’t fund the pay rise, claiming that the B of E cannot afford to fund the pay rise.
LH – They have obviously got the money…
This is the B of E they literally print the stuff!
LH – Maybe they are not giving it to Amulet
Absolutely – so our members are the lowest paid security staff in the bank. The Bank also has its own in house security staff, who are paid more.
LH – Right. What union are the main staff in?
They are also Unite, but come under a different collective bargaining unit. So we are here today striking for recognition for the core team and for a fair pay rise. They have now agreed to recognise us. That recognition agreement came late last night but we are still yet to receive an acceptable offer on pay for our members.
LH – So you are a recognised union, and there was a ballot presumably?
Yes
LH – What was the turnout and the vote?
In the ballot for industrial action – the vote was 100% for strike action on a turnout of just over 80%. Every single Unite member involved in this dispute in on strike. There is not one member who has gone to work today and they have all been on this picket line at one point or another since 7.45 this morning [interview was about 12.30}
LH – Fabulous. So this is a one day strike to start with. Have you got future action planned?
There is – five days of strike action from 24th November
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At that point a manager from the bank of England approached us with some of the strikers to point out, she said, that the strikers were not allowed to speak to the press (other interviews had taken place earlier).
She said that everybody who works at the Bank, whether an employee or a contractor, has signed up to a Code of Conduct, and needs prior permission to speak to the media, and that the strikers should direct the media to the Unite officers.
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LH – Would you like to comment on that?
I don’t think that is correct. She’s not the employer – she is the client officer for the bank of England so she should not actually be giving direct instructions to people that are not directly employed by her. She should go through the chain of command – that’s to contact the management which are responsible for the contract. I don’t think its right for her to come on the picket line and tell our elected reps that they cannot speak about the dispute that they are actually here taking lawful industrial action about …but I will seek clarification
LH – Anything else you want to say about the strike?
So – regarding the dispute, its been solid action. 100% of people have come on strike – we’ve got strike action going ahead five days from 24 November. We believe that we will win this dispute and I think the Bank’s actions – not wanting any of our reps to speak to the press – shows they don’t want anyone to know how poorly they have treated their contract security staff.
LH – Yes. Basically Amulet have just passed it to the bank, so are you putting pressure on the bank directly to pay up?
Yes. We have been putting pressure on. Our action here is outside the bank itself and the Bank sees that as an action against them. Amulet is nowhere to be seen.
LH – so you are trying to leverage them – to embarrass the Bank into paying up?
They are the ones that sign the cheques. If they don’t give the pay rise, it doesn’t happen.
LH – Thanks and good luck!
[Featured photo – Dave Putson/Left Horizons]
