By Andy Thompson, Unite
Birmingham home care workers have voted to press on with strike action in year-long dispute with Birmingham City Council.
In the politically difficult landscape of Birmingham, run by a Labour Council structurally insulated from the Birmingham working class, the home care workers in the enablement service have opened a second front following the successful battle waged by the bin workers.
The dispute itself, now entering its 15th month, is around the working patterns which would see home care workers working long shifts with little time for any real work-life balance. “This would force many carers to work three split-shifts in a working day,” said Caroline Johnson, Birmingham Unison branch secretary. With too little time to return home between shifts, it is claimed they could be out from home for 15 hours a day. The workers voted in a ballot in December 2017 for strike action – a 53% turnout with 99% in favour of striking.
Mandy Buckley, the care workers rep, outlined what the reality of the proposals is to them: At present, she works 25 hours a week for around £12,000 a year (about £9.81 an hour). If the council pushes ahead with its plan, then she could find herself put on just 14 hours a week – at a loss of £6,000 a year. And to make matters even worse, she would also lose her working tax credits, because she would only have 14 hours and not at least 16.
The first days of action were 20th January and 6th February 2018 and from the outset the strikers have enjoyed great solidarity from other unions, including Unite, the bin workers, Momentum groups and the grassroots members of Birmingham Labour Party.
More than 12 months down the line, with support from the TUC and constituency Labour Parties, after Labour MP, Jack Dromey had attended the strikers’ Christmas Solidarity Social, eight out of nine Birmingham MPs signed a letter taking issue with the handling of the dispute by Birmingham City Council. The failure of the ninth Labour MP, ex-left Steve McCabe to sign the letter seriously backfired on him. When the workers leafletted his constituency asking his constituents to write to him, asking why he did not go along with his colleague MPs, he accused them of bullying. He, on a grossly inflated MP’s salary, accusing low paid women facing financial ruin, of “bullying”!
Council refuses to meet delegation of care-workers
Similarly, when they campaigned in the wards of the Council and Deputy Council Leader and the Cabinet Member for social care, those accusations were levelled at them afresh.
The home care workers have not been cowed. They have shamed many of the elected representatives of the Labour Party into coming onside. The latest developments include a letter from 23 councillors condemning their own group leadership; the resignation of the Labour Chief Whip on the City Council; the potential referral of the BCC leader, Ian Ward, and Deputy Leader, Brigid Jones, to the Labour Party NEC for their conduct in both the care workers and bins disputes; and the involvement of the local TUC in organising rallies and solidarity.
In mid-December the Labour council cabinet refused to meet a delegation of care workers and had used heavy-handed tactics to push back the women. Anger erupted as more than 30 home care workers were locked out after trying to force their way into Birmingham Council House. Some of the workers were in Victorian garb to press home the portrayal of the council as Scrooge, singing festive tunes and protest songs as members of the Cabinet took their seats in committee rooms. The feeble excuse offered by the council was “the issue of the home care workers was not on the Cabinet’s agenda today”.
The latest home care strikers rally attracted estimates of nearly 170 people on Thursday 29th January. Despite the bad weather people turned up to hear speakers at the TUC organised rally, in support of the strike.
March 7, 2019
