Category: Austerity

Barnet Care Workers deserve the London Living Wage

Austerity, Barnet Group, Barnet Homes, Local, TBG Flex, UNISON Campaign

Thursday 19th September Barnet UNISON wrote to The Barnet Group asking when the London Living Wage would be applied to the colleagues who transferred in from Fremantle Group.

As soon as we heard these workers were to be transferred into the Group we made it clear to the new employer that we wanted this for the care workers. The work these colleagues do is demanding and is a skilled job yet these workers receive rates of pay which are often only just above the National Minimum Wage (£8.21/ hr). Few workers are receiving rates of pay higher than the London Living Wage (Team Leaders for example).

We were very proud that our outsourced cleaners working in Barnet Council offices now earn the London Living Wage so the care workers must now receive at least the same wage.

In fact the ex-Fremantle workers are not the only care workers in the Barnet Group who receive less than the London Living Wage. The Barnet Group describes itself as a “London Living Wage” employer but unfortunately cannot retain this title so long as so many colleagues earn so much less.

“Caring for vulnerable people is a skilled job and should be recognised as such. There is no way care workers should be paid less than shelf stackers and cleaners. No one deserves less than the London Living Wage. We expect The Barnet Group and Barnet Council to pay this as an absolute minimum.” Helen Davies, Chair, Barnet UNISON.

“Barnet Group cannot be allowed to continue paying below the London Living Wage to these care workers, some of whom were council staff before they were “outsourced” to Fremantle, who attacked their pay and Terms and Conditions remorselessly. The Barnet Group is solely owned by Barnet Council and should fulfil the Councils commitment to the London living wage.” Patrick Hunter Barnet UNISON Convenor for Barnet Homes. 

“Everyone agrees that care workers are undervalued, overworked and unpaid. In Barnet we have had an agreement for several years that no staff would earn less than the London Living Wage (LLW) and in the event staff were outsourced the contractor must make the same commitment that no staff working on a Barnet contract must earn less than the LLW. Earlier this year Barnet Council honoured this agreement by ensuring contracted out cleaners were on the LLW. I am calling on Barnet Council and The Barnet Group (TBG) to ‘do the right thing’ and announce that all care workers working for TBG are upgraded to at least the LLW.” John Burgess, Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON.

More to follow……………………..

Good News! – Pay Cut for Adoption Workers Stopped

Austerity, News, Solidarity, UNISON Campaign

North London Business Park, Unison workers go on strike
29/04/15 BP
Credit: Anne-Marie Sanderson

You may recall that a group of workers were due to be TUPE transferred to the North London Regional Adoption Agency at the start of this month. Shockingly they were informed at the last moment that if they transferred they would lose their Recruitment and Retention payment. This was after being part of the work done to deliver a good Ofsted rating. The Council argued this was not part of their terms and conditions. This would have meant a pay cut of 15%! Only when our union stepped in with legal advice to say they would take a court case on this if the Council went ahead, did the Senior Management back down and now these workers will transfer with their usual wages including the R&R.
It is unlawful to inflict a detriment on workers changing their terms and conditions due to a TUPE transfer. This was absolutely the line our Family Services Senior Management were pursuing.
It pays to be in a trade union. These workers went through a difficult time for several weeks and months not knowing what their income was going to become or where they would end up working. However, they stuck it out and acted together patiently waiting for positive news which did in fact come.
Solidarity to those workers!

Homeless: Barnet UNISON quest to find an office

Austerity, Local, News, Uncategorised

Dear Members

Since the formation of Barnet Council in 1965 there has always been an office for our members to visit and meet with their reps first when it was NALGO and now Barnet UNISON.

Barnet UNISON has moved a few times over the last decades. We were based in an old mortuary in Hendon until the Council moved services “lock, stock and barrel” to North London Business Park (NLBP).

We remained in NLBP until the Council began its new accommodation strategy.

We were moved to Barnet House and we are still here.

It is really important for our members that they have access to their trade union.

Currently we have large numbers of members at Oakleigh Road depot, NLBP, Colindale.

Over the last 12 months we have been in discussions with the Council to find suitable accommodation that is accessible and provides confidentiality.

Why are we not at Colindale?

The set up in Colindale is open plan and the Council were unable to secure an enclosed office where we could meet, greet and discuss issues with our members. It is important that members are able to access Barnet UNISON without others knowing.

Subsequently we have been looking at some other properties. Originally we were going to return to Building 2 NLBP for a limited amount of time but that has not materialised.

Time is running out.

At the moment we are still in Barnet House because the building is still open for Housing Needs service which has not moved to Colindale. At some point Barnet House will be closed and we will be out on the streets hence the need to find something suitable.

We are still hoping to find a solution with the Council but we need to be prepared for potentially being homeless.

How you can help?

We are calling on all members to keep a look out for anywhere they think might be suitable for a Barnet UNISON office.

It’s important that members understand that the branch does not have funding for an office and therefore any costs would have to be taken out of our existing budget. This is a real concern because we have a large and diverse membership and we struggle to live within our budget each year. We will of course be contacting our union to ask if they are able to provide extra funding for accommodation and we will report back to our members the outcome of that request.

 

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