Care workers at homes across Bristol began strike action against changes to their pay, terms and conditions today (Wednesday) - and received the backing of rail union boss Mick Lynch. Carers and employees of the St Monica Trust charity walked out of their jobs in care homes across Bristol and Somerset in a dispute over changes which they say will leave them thousands of pounds worse off.
They picketed a number of care homes, including the Cote Lane home in Westbury-on-Trym, which is the headquarters of the St Monica Trust. And as well as being joined by supporters and NHS campaigners at the entrance, they also received a message of support from Mick Lynch, the leader of the RMT union, who hit the headlines last week with the ongoing rail strike.
Mr Lynch said the issues facing his members were the same as the ones facing staff at the care homes. “These issues that we’re facing, of fire-and-rehire, low pay, stripping out the terms and conditions and an aggressive employer, are common to many workers in Britain at the moment and it’s important that everyone gives their maximum support to this campaign,” he said.
Read more: St Monica Trust says it has been subject to 'misinformation' in dispute
“RMT members and other trade unions - get down and support the picket lines in Keynsham and other areas in the Bristol region, and it’s vitally important that we win this dispute and we put fire-and-rehire behind us, and that everyone in the country deserves a decent pay rate and a decent set of terms and conditions," he added. “So please support this campaign and please show your solidarity to all of the strikers involved at St Monica’s.”
The dispute between the care workers union Unison and St Monica’s Trust, a charity set up by the Society of Merchant Ventures under its umbrella of philanthropic work in schools and the care sector in Bristol, has been brewing for months now. Unison spokesperson Josh Connor said the changes that bosses were introducing would mean the care workers and other St Monica Trust employees would have to work longer hours for less money.
“The proposed changes to terms and conditions of care home staff are threatening many members with thousands of pounds of cuts to their pay, reduction of sick pay for all staff, making housekeeping and catering staff do jobs they never signed up to, telling night staff they would have to take an extra half hour unpaid, reducing contractual hours, and cutting the amount of time staff can spend doing little extras for residents during handover,” he said.
“We have tried to engage the employer on these issues over several months and are ready to offer solutions to the problems they say they’re trying to solve. Management have refused to even discuss these solutions and so have left members with no choice but to take action,” he added. The chief executive of St Monica Trust, David Williams, said recently that the Trust had been the ‘subject to a campaign of misinformation’ over the ‘proposed restructure of our care homes’.
He said the changes were needed in a post-Covid world. “The Trust is a local charity and the world we are now operating in is very different to the one of two years ago. "The pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the UK’s health and social care sector, as does the nationwide social care recruitment crisis,” he added.
"The proposals that are currently under consideration aim to deliver consistency in the ways of working across all of the Trust’s care homes, improve recruitment and attract new workers into the social care sector. "This will also help fulfil our ongoing commitment for the St Monica Trust to be a real living wage employer, while offering a package of enhancements that exceed the industry standards for the health and social care sector.
"We believe this is necessary to ready ourselves for the many challenges that lie ahead for the social care sector as a whole, as well as enhancing the experience of living in our care homes for our residents and their loved-ones,” he added. He said the charity would rather not ‘fire and rehire’ but reach agreement with staff over the new contracts and terms and conditions.
“Whilst we acknowledge that a trade union is within their rights to canvas for strike action, it is disappointing they have chosen to escalate the situation at this point in the consultation process. To be clear, our intention is not to “fire and rehire”, but to reach agreement with our care home colleagues on the best way forward,” he added.
He claimed around two-thirds of those responding to consultations on the issue had accepted the proposed changes.
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