Care home fire and rehire threat will drive staff out of the sector

Care workers, registered nurses and residential home staff employed by Bristol-based care company St Monica Trust are to strike after managers threatened them with the sack unless they accept a pay cut, says UNISON today (Saturday). ​ More than 100 staff at four care homes across south ​west of England were issued with an ultimatum in March that unless they agree to a ​reduction in wages – costing them thousands of pounds a year and watering down their sick pay – they’d be fired, says ​the union. Four in five workers (82%) who took part in the ballot backed the strike, says UNISON. Strikes will be held later this month at care homes across South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset – the Russets and Sherwood, John Wills House, Charter House and Garden House Residential. Despite a national shortage of experienced care staff, managers at the trust are targeting the longest-serving and most experienced workers with the heftiest cuts​. The pay threat is ​effectively pushing workers towards other care employers and possibly from the sector altogether, says UNISON. Weekend pay rates that top up low salaries are to be cut for senior care workers by an eye-watering 21%, while other staff are being asked to take a 10% hit to their salaries, the union says. Workers stand to lose up to £400 a month, just as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies, UNISON adds. To add insult to injury, St Monica Trust is advertising for agency sta...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: News Press release Christina McAnea fire and rehire St Monica Trust Source Type: news