Update: 93 Covid heroes face the sack

Monday 23 August 2021

Care staff working at Apthorp residential and day care service were told last Friday 20 August 2021 that Barnet Council had made the decision to close Apthorp.

There are approximately 93 care staff working at this location.

Apthorp provides services for vulnerable older people.

Apthorp was originally owned by Barnet Council until it was sold off with 10 other Council residential homes and day services to Catalyst Housing who contracted Fremantle Trust to take over the Council care workforce.

The current Apthorp buildings were part of a deal which meant Catalyst Housing were given all 11 real estate locations to develop for themselves and in return they would provide modern state of the art residential and day care services on four of the sites.

Only three were built.

What were the staff been told?

In a letter from their employer it states:

“the Council and Your Choice Barnet have taken the decision to vacate Apthorp Care Home by 31 October 2021. You will be aware that we have been carrying out some fire safety works in the building. Whilst all emergency works have been carried out, further surveys have taken place which highlight that significant levels of repairs are needed. The scope of works required in Apthorp Care Centre are extensive and would be extremely disruptive to residents of the home.”

At the meeting some staff responded to this devastating news by claiming that moving vulnerable residents from Apthorp to another home at this time will result in blood on someone’s hands because some of the residents won’t react well to the move.

There is documented evidence of the serious and sometimes fatal risks when moving vulnerable and elderly residents out of their homes. What is worrying about this plan is that Barnet Council are attempting to fast track the move of residents in less than two months which does not provide ample time to prepare and support vulnerable residents.

“Two decades to run down a service, wasted millions of public monies and now 93 Covid heroes are to be sacked.  

The world is upside down, seriously it is less than 12 months since our members were trying to care for vulnerable residents struggling to deal with Covid. There was no vaccine back then and the lack of PPE was an issue for members who were risking their own lives and those of their own family every day they went into work.

I won’t forget the fear in the voices of care workers as Covid was letting rip across Care homes. I can never begin to understand the terror our members were going through every day and all for the magnificent sum of £8.72 per hour! So here we are now August 2021 and our members have been told their workplace is closing, through no fault of their own.

Barnet UNISON will be supporting every single one of our members at this time we will also be seeking to find out who made this decision and why, this is not over. Keep watching this space…….”

(John Burgess Branch Secretary Barnet UNISON).

“The workers at the care home and day centre will have their lives thrown up in the air some few months after banners at the care home proclaimed them as heroes for how they dealt with the pandemic. There has been absolutely NO engagement with staff, residents, their families or the trade unions at any point to consider how Apthorp could be made viable. The cornerstone of activism for people with disabilities – nothing about us without us – has been utterly and completely ignored.

The elderly and the workforce are ignored and presumably they are just furniture to be moved around as The Great and The Good see fit. They are not worthy of any consideration. They have received no apology for this shocking turn of affairs.”

(Helen Davies Branch Chair Barnet UNISON.)

“We know the Care workers are ‘fit for purpose’ – they worked through the most unprecedented times in living history giving care to the most vulnerable in our community – in many cases end of life care to the clients they obviously love while putting themselves and their loved ones in danger to deliver care for their patients.

Their reward? The Barnet Group have announced their plan to make 93 Covid Heroes redundant. To sack the very workers that a few months ago were described as ‘Heroes’ because the company they work for obviously didn’t complete any meaningful due diligence when transferring staff and buildings from Fremantle, begs the question as to who should be facing redundancy.” (Patrick Hunter Barnet UNISON Convenor Barnet Homes.)

“The planned closure of the Apthorpe care home is the latest Adult Care policy decision that will have a major impact on service users, job losses for care workers and another policy decision that will ultimately cost council taxpayers dearly.

It marks 22 years of knee-jerk decison-making by Barnet Council which havve been devoid of economic and social impact analysis and cost benefit analysis since Barnet’s care homes were privatised to a Catalyst/Fremantle ‘partnership’.

Some partnership when eleven homes left the Council and only three return twenty years later. So what has happened to the land of the other eight homes?”

(Dexter Whitfield, Director, European Services Strategy Unit)

End.

Note to Editors: Contact details: Helen Davies Barnet UNISON on or 020 8359 2088 or email: Helen.Davies@barnetunison.org.uk

More On Mandatory Vaccines

Colleagues from Adult Health and Social Care are also affected by this new legislation as anyone attending care homes as part of their work will also have to be vaccinated against COVID. We are having constructive and positive discussions with the Senior Management Team to avoid colleagues being dismissed. However, our members are rightly concerned at the potential for divisions to open up in teams around this question.

Additional key questions are: how will the employer keep the information as to who is vaccinated and who is not, and how/when will this be shared with staff and with UNISON. This is all new territory for us and not one we wanted to be in, so all questions and suggestions are welcome with the aim of doing our utmost to protect everyone from harm at work.

UNISON has now published its guidance just this week – please read here

Your Union Needs You! – How to Win £20

Recruit a member and win £20! The more members we have in our union and our branch, the more weight we carry with the employer. It’s that simple. We negotiate ALL the terms and conditions of your employment with the main Council employers and being a member of the union means you contribute directly to what we negotiate. We consult regularly with our membership via online surveys, meetings and we can be contacted by phone on 020 8359 2088 or by email at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk.

Over the last year we have grown in membership but there is much more to do. Many of you will be in teams where you hardly know any new members. Why not drop them a line or a phone call and ask them if they would like to join the union?

For every member who joins because you spoke to them about it, we will give you £20. This will be paid after the first subscription has been received from the new member. What you do with the £20 is up to you. You can even split it with the new member.

 

Branch officers and staff are excluded from the scheme, this is directed specifically at our rank and file members and activists.

The form you will need to complete is simple to do and you can get this by contacting the branch office. To order your recruitment bundle contact the branch office on 020 8359 2088 or email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

What is a Green Rep?

These are members who will take up issues of climate change in the branch and look at ways we can shift employers to become greener. This means more than putting things in the correct rubbish container. Find out what it could mean for you here.

Click here to read UNISON’s policy on climate change, the environment and the workplace.

Have Your Say On Pay!

 

“Despite their courage and sacrifice throughout COVID-19, council and school workers have been offered 1.75%. With inflation at 3.9%, that’s a real terms pay cut. UNISON is launching a consultation and strongly recommend members vote to reject such an unfair offer.” – UNISON

This ballot will begin later in August. Check we have your correct details for your ballot: https://www.unison.org.uk/my-unison/

      • Most importantly is your name spelt correctly?
      • Is your address correct?
      • Is your job title correct?
      • Do we have the correct employer?
      • Do we have the correct department?

Read more about this campaign here

Online pre-retirement workshops by Affinity Connect

 

Here is an update from West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) regarding additional dates for their pre retirement workshops. These workshops are for members who are in the Barnet Fund.

 

Affinity Connect our pre-retirement partner and specialist provider of financial education in the public sector are continuing to host workshops virtually due to the pandemic.

 

These sessions are available to all scheme members regardless of which fund they are in. The workshops are aimed at those approaching retirement as well as members in the early stages of their retirement planning.

 

The 2 hour virtual workshops via Microsoft Teams are proving to be very popular, we have added a couple of late afternoon slots to accommodate those who can’t attend the main morning or afternoon times.

 

12 August – 10.00am – 12.00pm

14 September – 10.00am – 12.00pm

15 October – 10.00am – 12.00pm

9 November – 13.00pm – 15.00pm

16 November – 16.00pm – 18.00pm

14 December – 13.00pm – 15.00pm

 

Please share these dates with your members who may be approaching retirement or those in the early stages of their retirement planning. Places are limited to 20 so members will need to be quick to grab a place.

 

You can view the course content here. Booking a place is really easy, simply email Affinity Connect with the details of the workshop you would like to attend email bookings@affinityconnect.org

 

 

These online sessions are available whilst current social distancing restrictions apply.

 

*Please note, guidance will provide information only and will not include or constitute financial advice.”

These workshops are not being facilitated by Barnet UNISON, if you require further details please email bookings@affinityconnect.org

Contacting the Branch

If you have any questions or need any support please contact the Branch Office

 contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

Or you can call 020 8359 2088, if we are unable to answer the telephone please leave a message speaking slowly and clearly please include your name, telephone number, membership number and a brief message about the assistance you require. We will respond as soon as we can.

Alternatively you can contact UNISON Direct Call Centre by telephone 

08000 857 857 Monday – Friday 6am – Midnight, Saturday 9am – 4pm

or make an online enquiry by clicking the following link

https://www.unison.org.uk/get-help/online-enquiries/

To Join UNISON click the following link 

https://join.unison.org.uk/

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good

The Good News is that with the support of our Bin workers, Barnet Council has agreed to restore National Green Book Weekend and Bank Holiday rates of pay which will mean large numbers of our lowest paid members will be earning more money.

The Bad

In February 2021 Barnet UNISON submitted a proposal for a COVID thank you payment for all frontline workers, care workers, school staff, depot workers.

The Bad news is that this proposal was rejected.

Details of our proposal is here.

https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2021.02.11.-COVID-thank-you-payment.pdf

and the Ugly.

On Friday 11 June 2021 Barnet UNISON enters into negotiations with The Barnet Group and Barnet Council about the serious inequalities in the workplace that are bad for the health and well being of our members and their families.

End.

1 33 34 35 36 37 230