Barnet Labour Group call for YCB to be brought back in house

The following message was sent to Barnet UNISON earlier today.

“We recognise that Barnet UNISON Your Choice Barnet care workers have overwhelmingly voted to reject the latest proposal to reduce the pay cut imposed on them from 9.5% to 7.9%.

We know that these care workers care deeply about the residents who use the services provided by YCB and understand that their concerns are not only about pay but also about the quality of services that are provided.

We wish to express our disappointment that Barnet Council, as the sole shareholder of the Barnet Group and its subsidiary company Your Choice Barnet, has repeatedly refused to come to the negotiating table with Barnet UNISON and ACAS to try and resolve this ongoing dispute.

The Barnet Tories are not honouring their original decision, made at Cabinet Resources Committee 24 May 2011 that “Commercial risk ultimately remains with the Council and in the unlikely event of failure, the services will need to be brought back in-house.” (p57 of the Business Case).

Our message to UNISON YCB members is that if we were in control of the Council we would not put political ideology over the needs of vulnerable adults and their families and would be instructing senior officers of the Council to bring this high profile front line service back in house.

We will continue to lobby Barnet’s Tory councillors to do the right thing and bring this service back in house.”

Barnet Labour Group