17 January 2021 | UK NEWS
A trade union that represents care home workers has instigated strike action, despite the ongoing pandemic.
Staff at Sage Nursing Home in North West London began their strike on Friday, which will run through the weekend. They are demanding higher wages and increased holiday leave sick pay, in line with NHS staff provisions.
The strike was organised by the union United Voices of the World (UVW), who are organising for around thirty staff, including care workers, cleaners and general maintenance, to leave their positions for three days.
Footage obtained by Wolves of the UVW pre-strike rally call on Zoom has given an insight into the workings of the strike.
A member of Barnet Transformed said on the call that the strike “inspired” her and called the strikers “legends” for “setting a precedent for all workers”, saying that “every worker win, every trade union win” was a “win for all workers”.
This speaker was followed by an activist from a Jewish solidarity movement, an organisation that began as “Jews Against Boris” to “challenge the normalisation of far-right and nationalist rhetoric by Boris Johnson”. She called the strike “a left-wing political imperative”, suggesting a political motivation.
Another UVW member said she hoped that strikes such as this one would help to “stop the few ones who have a lot of privilege”, in a reference to the care home owners.
The call was rounded off by a speaker involved in organising the rally with UVW, who said: “Everyone is dreaming about the return to normal, but let’s prove that the new normal will be better and we are going to be in control of it.”
Employees at the home are paid between £8.72 per hour for domestic staff and £9.60 for some care workers. Workers are demanding an increase to £12 per hour.
The care home responded to the union’s demands by releasing the following statement:
“Given its charitable objectives, it is disappointing that United Voices of the World has chosen to focus a campaign against a small Jewish charitable home and not the many other commercial care homes who pay similar rates.
“Sage benchmarks its rates of pay against the care home sector both locally and nationally and believes it is in line with comparable care homes. Like many in the care sector, Sage is battling with the consequences of Covid-19 – severe operational challenges, increased costs and the tragic loss of a third of its residents.”
The union’s demands, the care home argues, could “lead to the closure of the care home”.
The care home employs over a hundred workers and says it will be able to cope with the strike by providing cover staff.
The picket line against the care home is taking place online due to the ongoing pandemic.
