Doncaster care workers new strike

MEMBERS of the public sector union Unison employed by Care UK in Doncaster began a new strike action starting this Monday 28th July for two weeks, after the company refused to even discuss a wage rise this year.

The action came after a new ballot and is in support of a pay claim that calls for a minimum starting rate of £7.65-an-hour, which is the national living wage outside London. The current pay for basic grade staff is £7-an-hour.

For staff whose jobs were moved across to Care UK when the council privatised the service last year, the claim is for a meaningful wage rise.

Before the pay claim was submitted, the company said that there would be no wage rise. Unison Yorkshire and Humberside regional organiser Jim Bell said: “This company should hang its head in shame for profiting from public sector, taxpayer- funded contracts at the same time as paying its basic grade staff so badly that many of them have to claim taxpayer-funded inwork benefits to survive”.

Members at Care UK have already taken 34 days of action this year in a fight over the imposition of massive pay cuts, following the privatisation of the service, which sees members care for vulnerable people with severe learning disabilities.