BREAKING NEWS: Historic First Ever Strike Action for Adults Social Workers in the City starts on 7 November says UNISON
For the first time in the city’s history, Adults Social Workers are to take industrial action over pay following 100% of those returning ballots voting to strike. The action follows a two-year campaign by adult social workers for a 12% market supplement. Around 200 social workers working with families and children already receive the supplement, and those working with adults must be treated equally, says UNISON.
The social workers carry out essential work in hospitals, rehabilitation centres, care homes and the community, supporting adults with physical disabilities, mental health, homelessness and substance issues and carrying out vital safeguarding work.
Brighton & Hove UNISON, who represent adult social workers in the city, says the strike is a last resort after all other attempts to resolve this dispute had failed. There are significant issues with recruitment and retention of staff in adult social care and the market supplement is an essential tool to improve the service for residents of Brighton and Hove. In one team a social work role had to be advertised three times, and on one occasion of the 100 applicants, not one was a qualified social worker.
The strike has been called on the day of the next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board and will also coincide with industrial action by mental health social workers who are members of UNISON in Barnet – a powerful message of solidarity and a warning for all local authorities if they do not pay social workers fairly, says the union.
UNISON Brighton & Hove Joint Branch Secretary, Corinna Edwards-Colledge said:
“Austerity policies such as cuts in funding to local government over the last 13 years are a direct act of harm by central government against millions of people and communities across the country. Central government needs to act now to restore funding to local authorities like Brighton and Hove, and fund proper pay rises for essential professionals like Social Workers and Care Workers, who have experienced some of the lowest pay growth of any professions, yet demonstrate unwavering dedication to the most vulnerable people in our society.
“Brighton & Hove City Council needs to address the significant issue of equality between the pay of workers in adults social care with their friends and colleagues in families, children and learning. Otherwise, talent and experience will continue to drain away, overtime and agency spend will continue to rise, and the risk to services will increase.
“UNISON members in Brighton and Hove also stand in solidarity with UNISON social work members in South Gloucestershire, Barnet, and other areas which are moving towards taking action on this issue.
“The last thing members here want is to take strike action, but they have been left with no other option. Brighton and Hove must do the right thing and pay their social workers fairly and equally.”
The action is also happening in the context of increased demand for social work services in the city as more and more vulnerable adults are plunged into crisis. For individual social workers, the high cost of living is also a major factor, with one young social worker reporting paying £1500 a month on rent, leaving them with just £300 to live off for the rest of the month. Rents in many neighbouring authorities are half what they are in Brighton, yet pay is similar, creating an immediate disadvantage for BHCC when it is competing for talented social workers:
Negotiations have started with the employer, but if there is no significant progress after the first strike date of 7 November further strike action is planned on the 14th December (date of the next meeting of full council) and 15th of December. Further action could then also be announced in the new year.
Brighton & Hove UNISON calls on all public service workers in the city to join a union. With the wholesale decline of our public services, and disastrous holes in the budgets of cities and towns across the country – it is vital that workers stand together to protect, not just their own jobs – but also the essential services that they run. Social workers are at the heart of that provision - but with a recent UNISON survey finding that over half are considering quitting - unless we improve pay and conditions it is unlikely that we are going to avert a disaster that is quite literally waiting to happen.
Contact: Corinna.edwards-colledge@brighton-hove.gov.uk, 07563 420176, Joint Branch Secretary
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What our members say about why they are striking:
“We have had real terms pay cuts continuously for many years, working full time now gives the same real terms pay as working a four-day week a few years ago. Adult social care has a high turnover of staff and the majority of new staff each year are newly qualified because the salary fails to attract or keep the experienced staff needed. This all undermines the service we try to deliver.”
“Strike action is not something I do lightly. Working with vulnerable (many elderly) people who have recently been discharged from hospital is a role I take very seriously. However, the ethos I apply to ensuring those vulnerable residents are treated equally and supported with the services they need; is the same ethos I seek to apply to myself and my colleagues.”
“I am a newly-qualified social worker. Since I joined my team just over a year ago, eight of my colleagues have left. A significant reason for this is that other local authorities pay adults social workers a market supplement. It’s demoralising to work in this atmosphere and as a young person just starting my career, I feel disadvantaged by this and by wanting to work for the community I live in. The council consistently spreads a message that Brighton is a vibrant, exciting place to live. Yet colleagues are leaving for other local authorities because we don’t get paid enough to afford to live and work in Brighton.”