“Your Choice was never Our Choice!” – A New Campaign is Launched

12th April 2013 Uncategorised

Around 50 people came together last night to launch a campaign to bring Your Choice services back in-house. There was a mixture of service users, carers, workers and supporters. Everyone was clear the fight for workers’ pay and rights is directly linked to the fight for the rights of disabled people. After all if the workers are treated shamefully then what does that say about the way disabled people are viewed? Not worthy of having a skilled worker? People were clear the fight is not going to be easy, but neither is allowing Your Choice and the Council to get away with an outrageous attack on the terms and conditions of Your Choice workers who will be downgraded in pay or be made redundant, have weekend allowances removed and then have their salaries benchmarked against the private sector. UNISON estimates the cuts could amount to around a 20% cut in the pay of these already low-paid workers. The meeting agreed to support the Labour Party motion going to Full Council next week about bringing Your Choice back in-house and to encourage people to attend that meeting. It also agreed to have the next campaign meeting Thursday 25^th April in the evening at the Greek Cypriot Centre to decide next steps.

Council Social Care Staff

The context of the Your Choice Campaign is one which is becoming all too familiar in the Council as jobs are cut and downgraded and people feel angry about the way the work they do is not being valued. Library workers are disputing their pay grade and added to this are social care staff in Adults and Communities Service. On a 60% turnout they have voted 95% in favour of requesting the branch seeks authorisation for an official ballot for industrial action to have the right pay reinstated for a critical post in the structure. These social work and OT staff are telling the branch in meeting after meeting they have had enough and are fed up with not being taken seriously.