Hundreds of workers at Oxfam are to vote on strike action after rejecting the anti-poverty charity’s latest pay offer.

The charity has offered its office and retail staff £1,750 or a 6% cent pay increase, whichever is higher, plus a one-off payment of £1,000.

But the union Unite says workers have rejected this offer as too low, given many are only earning “little more than the minimum wage”, and claiming many have seen their wages slashed by a fifth in real terms over the last five years.

The offer has been rejected by just under four in five union members at the charity, who are being balloted on whether to take strike action, which would take place from 26 October to 16 November.

A survey of 150 Unite workers found that just under one in ten have had to use foodbanks and more than a fifth have struggled to pay their rent. A third says they have had to choose between heating their homes and feeding their families.

Unite has criticised the pay offer given Oxfam’s anti-poverty campaigning and strong recent accounts, which show its income for the year ending March 2022 was £373m, an increase of £28.7m on the previous year.

“Oxfam’s hypocrisy is astounding,” said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.

“This is a charity in robust financial health that makes much of belonging to the Ethical Trading Initiative and bestowing the virtues of unions to lift workers out of poverty.

“Meanwhile, Oxfam’s own staff are on poverty pay, with some using foodbanks and unable to pay their rent. How can its leadership possibly justify ignoring its workers’ demands to be paid fairly and blocking their union?

“Oxfam can well afford to pay a reasonable rise without the slightest impact on its operations here or abroad."

An Oxfam spokesperson said that “as a real living wage employer and an organisation committed to tackling poverty” it is “acutely aware of the impact of the rising cost of living on colleagues and addressing that is a priority for us”.

“That is why we chose to bring forward pay increases for lower paid colleagues and why we have ensured that these colleagues will have received real terms pay increase over the past 12 months,” added the spokesperson.
 
“We believe this pay award is fair and it is at the limit of what Oxfam can afford without taking vital resources away from our work fighting poverty with communities around the world. Colleagues understand that we face limited resources and tough choices and we hope they will recognise that when casting their ballot. 

“We value the work of our trade unions and would much rather have reached agreement with Unite but what they are asking for is simply not affordable at a time when many of the communities we work with are also facing sharply rising costs.” 

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