Issue - meetings

This paper concerns the potential for the Council to become an Ethical Care Council that commissions its homecare services in a way that is consistent with the Ethical Care Charter (ECC).

John Drake, UNISON Regional Organiser for the B&NES branch, which includes Sirona Care & Health addressed the Select Committee. He said that his colleague Fred Jerrome has sent a detailed briefing document to the Chair.

I am here to update you on a long running dispute between Sirona & low paid, mainly women, workers in care homes and sheltered accommodation across the Banes area.

The basics of this dispute is the requirement of Sirona to make savings and their approach of achieving these savings will mean care workers having to make a choice between taking a pay cut or spending more time at work for the same amount of pay, not a choice anyone should have to make. It is little wonder that a recent study has shown that nationally around 900 workers are leaving the care sector each week. Our members in Sirona are openly talking about leaving a job they love and seeking alternative employment in retail because it pays better.

We accept that Banes Council is not the direct employer in this case, however as the commissioning authority you do have a responsibility to ensure not only the care of the service users but also that staff delivering these services are treated fairly and that includes pay

It is pleasing to note that the Council is seeking to earn the Ethical Care Chartermark and that is a laudable aim, however this dispute is fundamentally about the ethics of austerity and how this politically driven policy is impacting negatively on those carrying out vital work in the care sector.

Following the Your Care Your Way consultation, Virgin was awarded the bulk of the work that had been previously carried out by Sirona. As a consequence Sirona had to radically adjust its finances. We can discuss the way Sirona did this, we can discuss the rights and wrongs of things they should and shouldn’t have done but that is not going to help the immediate situation.

UNISON is all too well aware of the financial plight of Banes and we are actively working with officers to mitigate the impact of the 300 job losses across the council, again due to ongoing austerity, however the monies required to resolve this dispute are relatively small, between £150 & &180 k depending on who you talk to in Sirona.

I must make it clear our members do not want to strike, our members are not militant members of a strike happy union, they are dedicated public sector care workers who have faced 8 years of below inflation pay raises and are now facing another attack on pay are saying enough is enough.

Which is why 95% voted to take strike action in a lawful ballot after Sirona came forward with plans to dismiss and re- engage these staff which would force them on to new contracts that will reduce their pay or make them work longer for the same pay.

We are asking this scrutiny committee to work with us to identify additional funding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13