Doncaster care workers announce further strike action

Care workers in Doncaster have announced plans for a three-week strike as part of their long-running pay dispute with Care UK.

Around 70 workers are set to take part in the action due to begin on 25 August, according to Unison.

The union’s members voted for the action to support the pay claim for Care UK to introduce the national living wage rate of £7.65 an hour – above their current rate of just £7.

The latest action means the strikers will have taken a total of 48 days strike action since September 1 last year.

Regional Organiser Jim Bell said members at the company had suffered four years of pay freezes when they were employed in the public sector.

He said: “In total they have seen their pay cut by up to to 35 per cent in this period which is a massive hit and makes it impossible for them to meet the most basic costs of living.

“We are calling on Care UK to give them a meaningful pay rise and start the minimum pay rate at £7.65

“Care UK makes profits from bidding for publicly owned and tax payer funded public services. It then pays our members so little that they often have to turn to tax payer funded benefits just to survive.

“The company is making huge profits subsidised by all of us who pay tax. Meanwhile these most dedicated of public servants, who care for the most vulnerable people in society, are forced into crippling financial hardship.

“The company has forced our members to take strike action. They do this reluctantly and it causes great personal hardship and anxiety.

“But they are trying to protect the service they provide because if the company will not pay a fair rate, skilled and dedicated staff are forced to seek work elsewhere. It is the vulnerable clients and their families who will suffer terribly.”   

A spokesman for Care UK said the demand for a pay increase was “simply unaffordable”.

He said: “Our service has continued to provide an improving quality of support throughout the industrial action taken by a small number of activists and we are confident that we will continue to operate the same high quality service during any future strike action.”