Workers employed by Greenwich Leisure (GLL) are set to receive a 20% increase in sick pay following a day of industrial action last week.
From this month, the social enterprise has agreed to increase sick pay for all of its employees, including its leisure workers across the UK.
This follows a 24-hour strike on Tuesday 26 March, where trade union Unite stated that more than 100 of its members stood behind a picket line outside Woolwich Library. They were undertaking strike action in a demand for immediate changes to sick pay schemes and new minimum pay rates for 2023 and 2024.
A Greenwich Leisure Libraries spokesperson said: “It should be noted that the strike does not reflect the opinion of the vast majority of our staff; with union membership across our organisation sitting at less than 3% of the workforce. A well-received pay award was made in 2023, which was underpinned by the real living wage. The real living wage for 2024 is set and we will implement this in April of this year.
“Over the past 30 years, we have developed terms and conditions of employment that work for our business and our employees. We do offer flexible-working arrangements and give staff the opportunity to transfer from flexible contracts to permanent contracts via our You Choose scheme, which is open to all. Planned changes to GLL’s sick pay scheme will be implemented as part of our 2024 pay award.”
Sharon Graham, general secretary at Unite, added: “While this is a welcome step in the right direction, Unite won’t stop here. Outstanding disputes with GLL include a pay increase and better treatment for staff. Our members deserve better pay and conditions and GLL is in a position to improve its offers across the board. We will continue to stand with workers at Greenwich and Bromley library until all demands are met.”