Two hundred day care workers in centres across Glasgow are now entering the second month of an indefinite strike, after the Council refused to negotiate pay and conditions until the workers agreed to ‘modernisation of services’. The day care centres provide support and education for people with disabilities and learning difficulties and are crucial not only for the clients who use them, but for their families.
This ‘service modernisation’ means downgrading staff skills to just a basic training level, That fails to recognise the skills required, and the complexity of the job. Downgrading could mean workers losing up to £3,000 a year in pay. The Council’s plans would also mean more than 1,500 redundancies and the closure of half of the city’s day care centres. 6,000 workers, mostly members of Unison, are involved in the dispute.
At the time of writing, the Council have announced they will "continue with the modernisation plans and will not talk to the union until the strike is called off". However, the dispute is only one aspect of attacks on Glasgow City Council employees and our desperately needed services. The Council intend to push ahead with the privatisation of janitors, while social workers in the city have still not received their agreed back money following their own successful strike action last August.
