“This week, trade union Unison balloted their members who are staff at Quarriers. 108 members of Unison (out of a total union membership of 553) voted yes to possible strike action over a pay dispute. This represents 6% of our total workforce of 1,750 - working in 100 projects across Scotland and south west England. It would be regrettable if strike action affected any of our vital care services. Quarriers management is happy to meet again with Unison to discuss the pay issue, but we are not able to improve our pay offer.
The press has raised the issue of local authority funding of the voluntary sector in recent weeks, as has Community Care Provision Scotland following their recent report about the situation in relation to contracts provided to local authorities for community care. Many leading organisations have to subsidise services provided to local authorities from their voluntary income. This is an area of great concern to Quarriers.
Despite the fact that overall Quarriers’ local authority contracts income has only increased by 1% on average, the pay increase which Quarriers is offering to its staff of 2.5% is exactly the average increase being offered across the voluntary sector in Scotland.
What Quarriers is asking for is that our services should be funded on a like-for-like basis so that our staff are not penalised, otherwise the voluntary sector will continue to subsidise public sector services.
Staff at Quarriers are hugely committed to the work they do for vulnerable people, for disadvantaged children and families across Scotland. Any strike action could put the issue of services under threat, and would appear to show that Unison is unfairly targeting the voluntary sector in comparison with local authority services.
To explain the history of the current situation with Unison, Quarriers made an improved offer of 2.5% increase in pay, with no strings, to all 1750 staff last November 2006. In sheer exasperation regarding Unison’s lack of response over the last 6 months, and in fairness to all our staff (553 are members of the union), we paid the increase, back-dated to 1st October 2006, this March 2007.
Unison had suggested that a lump sum of £600 be paid to the staff. This is substantially more than 2.5% and as a charity employing these numbers, we simply can’t afford it. We are acutely aware of low pay of our basic grade staff and agree that they should be paid more, but a lump sum payment as opposed to a percentage increase erodes the differentials, exacerbating the difficulty we already have in recruiting first line managers in what is now a very competitive market.
In comparison with other voluntary organisations, not only is the 2.5% exactly equivalent to the average increase across the sector, but salaries are well above the average, as well. We are not complacent. Quarriers’ management has enjoyed a very positive working relationship with Unison for many years. We meet with union representatives regularly and pay for the branch secretary to spend two days per week carrying out union duties. Most other voluntary organisations do not recognise Unison and are not so vulnerable to possible strike action. We are not being targeted because Quarriers is a bad organisation, but because we recognise Unison.
The costs of provision of social care across the whole country are currently being aggressively driven down by local authorities. But, as we have seen elsewhere, where the local authority/Unison alliance succeeds in driving out the voluntary sector, we will not be replaced by a return to local authority run services, but by the private sector, who pay less, do not recognise trade unions and provide poorer quality services. “
Phil Robinson, chief executive, Quarriers
13 April 2007
ENDS
THIS INFORMATION AND FURTHER DETAILS FROM:
CAROL ANDERSON T: 0131 718 6022 M: 07836 546 256
JANE SMITH T:0131 718 6022 M: 07880 666136
