Second week of Property Care Strike Action
We are deeply saddened to confirm that a second week of industrial action will take place from Monday 20 February by colleagues in our Property Care team. Customers can be assured that during these 5 days of strike action all emergency and urgent repair requests will be responded to in the usual way when you call our 24/7 Contact Centre on 0808 100 9596. There may be some disruption to routine repairs which may need to be moved to a later date. Further information about emergency or urgent repairs can be found at: www.magentaliving.org.uk/repairs Repairs involving heating and hot water will be unaffected by this strike action.
Prior to the strike action, we have offered Property Care colleagues additional remuneration along with further training and support. In the days running up to this second week of strike action, we have again engaged with Trade Union representatives from Unite and met with colleagues individually to discuss all concerns. We continue to offer the opportunity to meet, and we remain hopeful that a resolution can be found.
This dispute relates to health and safety working practices when dealing with low-risk asbestos materials. It follows lengthy consultation with the Trade Union on this issue for over two years. Customer and colleague safety is our priority and we have developed robust procedures with an independent industry expert who has confirmed the procedures are the safest way of working around low-risk asbestos materials. They follow Health and Safety Executive ‘Asbestos Essentials’ guidance, and mirror industry best practice widely adopted across the housing sector and amongst the construction industry nationwide. We have also employed an industry specialist to help address the perceived risk amongst our workforce including more advanced training.
Professor Roger Willey, who has over 40 years’ experience working within the asbestos industry, reviewed Magenta Living’s approach and procedures and concluded: “I have personally worked with some 190 organisations that have safely carried out exactly the same type of work which Magenta Living have introduced. Their procedures have been drawn up based exactly on the Health and Safety Executive document and training has been given in these safe working procedures. Additional training has been offered to any staff who may still feel uncomfortable about working with low-risk asbestos materials.”