Care home staff ‘face the sack’ in contracts row
Deadline set for agreeing to lower wages, union claims
Frontline care workers have been told they will be “sacked” if they do not sign new contracts, according to trade union Unison.
About 100 staff were handed notice of dismissal letters by leicestershire County Care ltd (lCCl) on Monday and told their employment will be terminated if they do not agree to new terms by or before July 4.
they face cuts such as the removal of pay supplements for night work, work at weekends and bank holidays, as well as reductions in paid holiday, removal of their sick pay scheme and the withdrawal of a scheme for maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
the company has been approached and asked to confirm the union’s claims.
one carer has said previously: “When we are going to work doing the job we do, every day is hard enough. But to do it with the added worry of this over our heads is awful.”
Before privatisation, staff were promised their pay and conditions would be safe and not reduced.
However, lCCl said additional costs associated with coronavirus have left the firm on a financial cliff edge and cutting wages is the only way to save homes from closure.
Unison, which represents the majority of affected staff, has been in talks with the company for the past month.
the union is urging the company to think again. it said claims
by lCCl of financial hardship do not hold up to scrutiny and that the company is using the pandemic as an excuse to carry out cuts it had long been considering.
the government and leicestershire county and leicester city councils have all pumped additional funding into supporting residential care homes with Covid-related costs, Unison said.
the city council has given lCCl an extra £176,741 for help with four homes during lockdown, and similar support has been provided by the county council for the other nine homes.
Unison east Midlands secretary Chris Jenkinson said: “Staff have put their lives on the line caring for some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
“they should get medals for their heroic efforts, but instead they’re being sacked by an
employer motivated by profit with little concern for people. it’s a disgrace.
“Staff will be devastated by this announcement. the company must withdraw these damaging proposals or risk a long drawn-out dispute which could end up in the courts.”
the Mercury has asked leicestershire County Care ltd for confirmation and comment, but had not received one by last night.
Previously, Dr Davie ViveKananda, chief executive of lCCl, said: “the terms (staff kept when the homes were transferred from council control) provide unusually generous additional benefits.
“these terms have been honoured for the past eight years, but are now simply unaffordable as the pandemic has substantially increased our operating costs with dramatic increases to the cost of supplies and agency staff.”