Community Care's new financial survey shows that 40% of social workers believe they deserve a 5-6% pay rise in 2008/2009. Is it a pipe dream? If not, how do we deliver it?   

Following job evaluation I have this week found that I have been regraded and this means a DROP of over £3000 per year

Hi Lizzy

I'm sorry to hear about the results of your regrading.

So will your pay go down by £3,000 per year? That is awful. Surely that must be so demotivating. Has it affected many of your colleagues?

I think it raises a pretty fundamental question about representation. Who is defending the rights of social workers? Something like this demands strong local, collective action - but it doesnt' appear that either the public sector unions or BASW are either interested or capable of it. 

At least BASW are in the news this week talking about trying to work more closely with the unions over pay and conditions. Maybe that will beef up the social work voice with employers.   

It looks like council employers have offered staff across England, Wales and Northern Ireland a 2.2% pay rise for 2008-9, which unsurprisingly unions have rejected as an insult.

Inflation at the latest count was 4.1% on the widest measure - the retail price index - while the government's consumer price index, which excludes housing costs, stood at 2.5% in February.

What do we think - is strike action on the cards?

Sorry to reply to myself! It seems the two sides are back in negotiations on 2 April and unions expect an improved offer, though I can't see the employers increasing it by all that much (2.5% would probably be the most to hope for). Should this mean strike action?

surely it's got to match the level of inflation? Otherwise we're getting another pay cut...

Looks like the employers have come back with an improved offer - but a barely improved one, at 2.45%.

Needless to say the unions have rejected it and strike action is now looking all the more likely.

 HI, But how man yof us will vote for strike action and mean it??

In my area, I know the vote to strike won't get though, it hasn't in previous votes. 

People are losing faith with the Unions too   

 Hi,  Payreview has affected many in my area too- some colelgues are going down about £3,000 too- some by £15,000!!!!!- When my collegues went to the Union all they could say is that it was good for the low paid and totally ignored the facts about the people who were asking for help -those who had gone down!!!!???

citty:

 HI, But how man yof us will vote for strike action and mean it??

 

In my area, I know the vote to strike won't get though, it hasn't in previous votes. 

People are losing faith with the Unions too   

 Strike action is a bit of a joke in social work, what does everyone do when there is a strike? jig their diaries around so that the day is free to sit at home or on a picket... how is that any sort of inconvenience to our employers?

 it isnt like we have CP conferences and LAC reviews and legal planning meetings...or a final hearing on a strike day and just dont turn up, and if we did that what would be the fall out? would we be compromising our gscc registration by failing our service users? also, as a profession we are all too conscious of our responsibilities to the people we work with and wouldnd want to jeopordise the services they recieve.....the daily mail would love it if we did.... oh, i can see the healines now, 'babysnatchers take the days off and leave children at risk'.... there would be some way of having a pop...

 ...not that i am a generalising too much, or spelling that well.....or pessimistic...

 anyway, i guess the point i am circumnavigating is: strikes dont work in Social Work, there must be an alternative.

I for 1 will not strike. I did not come into this profession for the money ( I would be stupid if I had) I came in to protect children and I cant do this if I am on the picket line. I am really sorry idf this offends people but I just dont think anything gets done whne you strike in our profession infact it probably gives the families a good excuse to please themselves.

This is a really interesting issue.

There are clear ethical issues about strike action in terms of its impact on service users, and in a sense it must go against your professional values. Do people think the ethically right thing to do for a social worker who is a member of a union to cross a picket line?

My question is whether that means employers have you over a barrel? That social workers' conscientiousness can help prop up unjustifiable pay and conditions, perhaps more so than in other sectors.

Interestingly, BASW - in its current discussions on forging closer links with a union - appears to be taking this debate full circle, by drawing the link between good terms and conditions and the quality of practice within an organsation, in terms of their impact on retention, motivation, levels of absence etc. And then there's the fact, revealed by one of our recent surveys, that 40% of you have taken a second job to make ends meet, which can't be that healthy, either personally or for you rpractice.

This also feeds into the whole issue of whether it's better to have a social work only union - which we no longer have with Buswe having joined Community - or a general union which includes social workers.

Would it be better to have a social work union which took a coherent policy on strike action (i.e. only as an absolute last resort) or do social workers do better in a more general union, where more "militant" professions (particularly in a multi-sector setting such as local government) can take the lead on industrial action with the benefits accruing to all?

I feel that ethically we should cross a picket line to be able to due our duty by the children. What would we say to parents if they prevented us from seeing the children (in effect a picket line). This is not just a job in my eyes and I, in qualifying, stated that I would protect children. I do feel that employers have us over a barrel as does central government. What has effected LA employers more effectively from striking is the withdrawal of goodwill. This means we eork our paid hours and no more. This mean no more working outside of designated hours which we all do. They did it in the northeast (gateshead) and it dfid create a stir in higher management that they could no longer take for granted that workers will work free of charge.