Castlemilk members had a huge win of an:

• Area wide 75% service charge rebate over two years negotiated by members
• Replacement and repair of rotten fencing underway
• Dispute over Land Ownership and Fly-tipping progressed

At the beginning of this year Castlemilk Living Rent only had a couple of members on the Cressdales and Downcraig Road, who are tenants of Home Group; landlord to 120 homes locally.

Those members started an inspiring campaign to negotiate a rebate on service charges paid without services being provided during the pandemic, the replacement and repair of rotten fencing, and to settle a dispute over land owned Home Group that had become a fly-tipping hotspot.

Over the last six months those members have:

• Held a massive community meeting to vote on demands
• Rallied the majority of neighbours behind their demands and built union membership
• Taken action and elected and prepared a member negotiating team
• Entered two rounds of collective bargaining with Home Group senior management
• Won the majority of their demands and showed their neighbours that collective action gets the goods!

This isn’t just a victory for our members in their corner of Castlemilk; it’s an example for how social tenants can organise independently, and insist on collective bargaining, not arms’ length customer servicing controlled by the Housing, to resolve their issues.