I work in a private, young persons’ residential care home but, because of poor trade union membership levels in the private sector, UNISON have put me in with the County Council UNISON branch
Working in the private sector, as you are well aware, means rubbish pay and rubbish conditions, such as no pension, no sick pay, long hours and no lasting terms or contracts. In terms of the quality of service it’s very much a "ticky box" style regime. It all looks great from the outside, efficient, spick ’n’ span, clean as a whistle. But, it’s very much a "fur coat and no knickers" situation. Scratch the surface and you will see a workplace run on the cheap or "make do" in terms of staffing, with lots of paper work and a poor standard of care for the young people under your wings because you are run off your feet and you are quite often the only member of staff on duty. Poor staffing leading to long hours, fatigue and poor performance, and the need to comply with managers’ demands, or risk being identified as a troublemaker are ever present.
A regime which deliberately discourages inter-staff relationships for instance, "Don’t become too familiar with the other members of staff!" and purposefully sets rumours away about fellow workers to sow the seeds of distrust amongst us. These are old management tricks, which have been identified as such and which have backfired, resulting in a closer bond between us on the staff – with one worker now joining UNISON and another just about to.
Not all doom and gloom
So not all doom and gloom perhaps! But this is difficult work and has to be conducted with extreme care, as one or two of the workers have been drafted in because of their friendly ties with the owners of the home who have a working history in social care.This type of care is very expensive for local authorities which makes you wonder about the five and six holidays per year the owners have and the little work they actually do. It would be interesting to have the books opened to see where the money actually goes!
Because any TU activity is frowned upon, the key is to stay focused on the issues we are faced with on a daily basis and make some tentative political connections which have a very organic and immediate relevance to the staff I work with. So how this little corner of the class struggle will develop. only time will tell!
