Care UK workers begin new strike in Doncaster

Care workers at Care UK in Doncaster have begun new strike action today for two weeks, after the company refused to discuss a wage rise this year.

The action comes after a new ballot and is in support of a pay claim that calls for a minimum starting rate of £7.65, which is the national living wage outside London. The current pay for basic grade staff is £7 an hour.

For staff whose jobs were moved across to Care UK when the council oprivatised the service last year, the claim is for a meaningful wage rise.

Before the pay claim was submitted, the company said that there would be no wage rise.

UNISON Yorkshire and Humberside regional organiser Jim Bell said: “This company should hang its head in shame for profiting from public sector, taxpayer-funded contracts at the same time as paying its basic grade staff so badly that many of them have to claim taxpayer-funded in-work benefits to survive”.

Speaking in a BBC interview, Chris Hindle of Care UK said the pay demands were “simply unrealistic” and “at odds with what is happening in the NHS.”

He added that the pay demands were “simply unrealistic in light of the reduced funding available from the council” and said they seemed “totally at odds with what is happening in comparable jobs in the NHS and other public sector roles.”

Workers at Care UK have already taken 34 days of action this year in a fight over the imposition of pay cuts, following the privatisation of the service, which looks after vulnerable people with severe learning disabilities.