Glasgow social care workers dispute job re-grade

Over 600 social care workers for Glasgow City Council have been forced to postpone plans to reduce their service in protest over job re-grading, their union has said.

The social care assistants were to begin the action yesterday following a dispute over new job grades assigned by the council, which Unison says will see many facing loss of £1,000 a year. 

The workers passed a ballot action by 96 per cent last week that they would only work to their job profiles, and would go on full strike if anyone was suspended as a result of doing so.  

But the plan was called off after the council told Unison it would consider anyone refusing to carry out any tasks in their job description as being on strike.

Workers will now meet today to consider what action to over the new job grades and job profiles and could vote for full strike action.

Unison say the grades, assigned last autumn, fail to account for all the work the assistants are expected to do, including writing reports for children’s hearing panels and managing the care of people who lack capacity.

A Unison Scotland spokesman said that the so called ‘work to role’ plan had been devised to allow staff to protest while avoid vulnerable children and adults being deprived of services.

A spokesman said the union had received notification from the council last week that anyone working to role would be considered to be on strike and that the threat of an injunction against any action had been “mooted”.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council denied the Union’s claim that it had pursued legal action. He added that the union was “jumping the gun” as the workers still had option of appealing against their new grades and welcomed the postponement. 

A three year strike by care staff was averted last December after a deal was reached with the Union to allow staff threatened with losing money as a result of the new grade scheme to retrain in order to apply for a higher positions.

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Glasgow City Council

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Glasgow social care assistants to strike over job grades

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Helen McCormack