Home carers in strike threat
Home carers are threatening to strike over the Scottish Government’s failure to deliver routine Covid-19 testing.
Thousands of staff claim they have been left terrified of infecting vulnerable clients because virus screening promised two months ago still hasn’t been delivered.
The employees – who work across local authorities and private care providers – could walk out.
In a consultative ballot, more than 1300 GMB members were in favour of action and another vote is expected this month.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said routine testing will roll out this month.
But GMB Scotland organiser Rhea Wolfson said: “There’s a lack of confidence that the Government’s testing delivery plan can actually produce clear and unambiguous guidance for a mid-January roll out. It should be a source of shame that thousands of home
carers, supported only with PPE, are working through a lockdown prompted by a more transmissible strain of Covid-19. Our members are angry and scared. ”
In September, the
Sunday Mail revealed half of Scotland’s 71,350 home carers had never been tested.
Shona Thomson, a GMB union rep, said: “People are fed up with being ignored and treated like their lives don’t count.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We’ve announced plans for significant expansion in testing, including for care at home workers. Rollout will begin from 18
January in areas of highest virus prevalence.”