Employees who have begun a second wave of strike action are " fighting just to get by" in the face of the cost of living crisis, according to their union.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union working for Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) in Liverpool are three days into six days of strike action. Having rejected an offer of a 3.25% pay rise, they have taken a second stage of strike action and hope that it will lead to an improved offer, which also improves working conditions.
HGS workers in Liverpool work on the government's Disclosure and Barring Service, working on background checks. On Tuesday, a number of members and union representatives formed a picket line outside their office on Tithebarn Street in Liverpool city centre.
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PCS full-time officer Mike Jones told the ECHO: "The offer of 3.25% won’t touch the sides. When you’re looking at inflation at over 10%, the costs are going up. People here are low-paid in the first place, they just don’t have the savings to tuck into at the moment and people are finding it absolutely impossible to pay the bills and that’s only going to get worse.
"People aren’t fighting for extras, it's an absolute necessity. They’re fighting just to get by and pay the bills from month to month."
Mike said that the lowest paid staff at HGS Liverpool are new starters who earn £9.75 per hour. He said that more experienced staff members earn "just over £10 an hour".
However, the union hopes that the strike action will also result in an offer of improved working conditions Mike added: " But our claim was also around holidays, sick pay and breaks, because the employer only pays basic holidays - 20 days a year for new starters.
"And people don’t get sick pay in the first year, they only get five days for sick pay after a year. After three years this goes up to seven days. That’s something we’re pushing for an increase on, to give people protections if they're ill."
HGS is part of the Hinduja Group, whose chairmen Srichand Parmanand Hinduja and Gopi Hinduja topped the 2022 Sunday Times Rich List with a net worth of £28.472 billion. Mike believes this shows the company has the funds to offer an improved deal.
He said: "They’re (PCS members) determined to get a better offer, but it’s down to HGS to come back with a better offer that is acceptable to staff. When the company is owned by the richest person in the country, with a wealth of over £24bn, it’s absolute coppers for them to settle this.
"What they need to do is come back with an improved offer."
As spokesperson for HGS told the ECHO : "To date, HGS has attempted to discuss the demands being made by PCS Union and its representatives and reiterated the fact that HGS is unable to accommodate the unreasonable requests being made by PCS.
"Despite this, PCS has failed to reconsider its position and/or present a negotiable position. The union has made it clear there will be another strike over the period of September 5 to 10, and that when they return, they will be working to rule and not working overtime in a move that will ultimately hurt our agents financially.
"Furthermore, and for the avoidance of doubt, HGS has continued to operate its DBS campaign and met its obligations during the strike action. Despite the strike action, HGS has demonstrated its ability to fulfil the demands of the campaign.
"HGS is a standalone publicly traded business on the Indian Stock Market. HGS UK Limited, that operates the DBS contract is a subsidiary of HGS. The Hinduja family are shareholders alongside many other institutional investors."
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