Future Directions Striker speaks at UNISON London Regional Council

Yesterday was the UNISON London Regional Council meeting chaired by our Regional Convener, Gloria Hanson.

The first speaker was Alan Tate (left of picture) from the Communications union, CWU, who spoke about the privatisation of Royal Mail.

There was no need to do this - Royal Mail had been transformed in recent years and was making money. Why can Railtrack be publicly owned and still able to access the capital markets for investment but Royal Mail could not? The tax payers have been ripped off not only by the below value share offering but the loss of huge Royal Mail property assets across the Country.

CWU will go on strike November 4th if they cannot reach a deal on pay and to protect pay and conditions.

Next speaker was UNISON Senior National officer (not in picture) Donna Rowe-Merriman, who briefed us the Higher Education joint union strike over pay, which will take next Thursday 31 October. The pay claim is affordable and HE institutions can afford to pay more but choose not to while thousands of their directly employed staff are not even paid a living wage but exist on minimum wage rates. Further details of the strike action and regional rally's to follow. 

Final Speaker was Karen Shadwell (2nd from right), UNISON member of Rochdale branch. Karen is a disability support worker with high needs clients. She works for an organisation called "Future Directions" who are cutting her pay by nearly £100 per week.  She and her colleagues have been on strike for 29 days in recent months. Check out my past posts related to this dispute here, here and here. She was supported at this meeting by UNISON Local organiser, Karen Ellis.

Karen was an inspiration and received a standing ovation at the end of her speech. She had been up at 5am this morning in order to get here in time and was very nervous beforehand since  this was her first ever speech to such a meeting. Her speech was excellent. As her UNISON NEC member for Community, I offered her and her colleagues my support.

We have recently agreed in London for a donation  to the strike fund and sent a message of support. You can send messages of support and donations to Helen Harrison, branch secretary, Rochdale UNISON, 46 Richard Street, Rochdale, OL11 1DU. Email: unison@rochdale.gov.uk. Cheques can be made payable to Rochdale UNISON.

UNISON and her Future Directions had been to talk at ACAS on Friday and Monday. Hopefully a satisfactory result will be reached.

(2nd from left in picture is our London Equalities Convener Yvonne Green and behind her a bit obscured, Karen Ellis ). Hat tip photograph Karen Westwood.

#TUC13 Congress Fringe "Whole person care - a future for health & social care?

This fringe took place on Monday evening. TUC Assistant General Secretary Paul Nowak chaired. 

Andy Burham MP was running a little late, so UNISON AGS (and former nurse) Karen Jenning started the event.

She said that the problems between Health and Social Care has been going on for decades. She used as an example the age old dispute of who pays for a health or a social services bath for a client.

If the NHS recommend this then it is free, if  it is social services, then this same bath could be means tested!

While she is explaining this, Andy Burnham comes into the meeting. Karen apologies for starting without him and he says "just carry on". Karen says that is okay since, I have just been very horrible about you! (joke)

Andy spoke about the 2009-2012 - 66% rise in the very elderly A&E admittance via ambulance. Hospitals are becoming warehouses for old people. We need instead to invest in preventive care to also save money.  

The Tories are running down the NHS. According to them "GPs are to blame for A&E waits" while all nurses are "uncaring" and hospitals are just "coasting".

The press and Tories criticised the last Labour Government proposal on this issue as the "death tax".  Yet we now have already the dementia tax,  Which is surely worse? Andy also reaffirmed his pledge to abolish the Tory Health and Social Care Bill and that the NHS will be the preferred provider in any future Labour NHS reforms.

Andy made it clear that markets are not the answer in health and social care. The UK is one of the few countries to spend under 10% of GDP on health care because it has such an efficient national service. 

Justin Bowen from the GMB  (another former Tower Hamlets bod) said that Andy's comments was music to his ears. The problem however is money. Health and social care reforms will not be totally cost neutral. It will cost more. The crisis in social care now is all about money.

Andy countered by saying that there will be huge savings by bring together health and social care but also provided people knew what they would get, they would be willing to pay more for quality services.  

My question to Andy and the panel was about the present decimation of wages in the social care sector (I mentioned the disgrace at the "charity" Future Directions which he was well aware of)  and what are we going to do about future pay in the voluntary care sector?  Much of which is minimum wage.

I think it is fair to say that Andy was very supportive about the need to have decent pay in our sector but he and Labour are not yet in power.  So, roll on 2015.  

Rochdale Future Direction Striking Workers March and Rally

Good luck to the march and rally tomorrow (12:00 Thursday 29 August) by striking Future Direction workers and supporters. Speakers at rally include Maureen Le Marinel UNISON President and Heather Wakefield national secretary for local government.

UNISON Press release "More than 100 workers have begun five days of strike action in order to send their employer Future Directions a clear message that the fight against the substantial cuts to their pay and terms and conditions has not gone away.

The strike began at 8am on Sunday 25 August 2013 and follows 14 days of strike action already taken in recent months.

Future Directions CIC which is a company owned by Calderstones NHS Trust, bid for the contract to provide supportive living services from Rochdale Council, knowing that to make the contract viable they would need to make financial cuts as soon as they were awarded the contract. Future Directions is looking to expand its business and bid for more contracts at the expense of the workers who continue to deliver care to vulnerable adults, taking advantage of the fact that these workers care about the work they do and the people they work with.

A march and rally has been organised for Thursday, 29 August 2013 at 12 noon on 'the Butts' in Rochdale town centre in support of the strikers and their campaign to continue the fight against imposed cuts on their pay, terms and conditions. Many workers are losing more than £500 per month and having to use savings to subsidise their wages to make ends meet.

UNISON is asking branches to help support the strike action by giving donations to the hardship fund and help these workers to continue with their fight for a fair deal for Future Directions staff in Rochdale. For any messages of support or donations please contact the Rochdale UNISON Local Government Branch, 46 Richard Street, Rochdale, Lancashire, OL11 1DU, email address: Unison@Rochdale.Gov.UK telephone number: 01706 925952, branch secretary: Helen Harrison.
UNISON is continuing to call on Future Directions CIC to enter into meaningful negotiations with a view to resolving this ongoing dispute".

Hat tip picture UNISONActive

Future Directions workers out in force at the Durham Miners' Gala

From Today's UNISON eFocus
"Future Directions workers were out in force at the Durham Miners' Gala at the weekend, pressing their case for pay justice at the annual celebration of the labour movement.

The workers from Rochdale in Greater Manchester are taking industrial action, including strikes - most recently for four days - over pay cuts and slashed terms and conditions which could see some losing up to £10,000 a year.

Some 115 members are being forced to take industrial action by their employer Future Directions, a "community interest company" set up by the local NHS foundation trust to provide community services.

The workers were transferred to the new company from the NHS and local councils under TUPE.
When the action started in May, Rochdale branch secretary Helen Harrison said: "Our members provide a vital service to vulnerable adults living in Rochdale. They do a tough job, and now they are being asked to do it for even less money, on worse terms and conditions.

"Some of our members may lose their homes because of these drastic cuts. They care deeply about the services they provide, but have no choice but to take this strike action."

Messages of support and donations can be sent to Helen Harrison, branch secretary, Rochdale UNISON, 46 Richard Street, Rochdale, OL11 1DU. Email: unison@rochdale.gov.uk. Cheques can be made payable to Rochdale UNISON".