Workers, residents and relatives at the Victoria Park care home are furious at the sacking of a popular local carer, says GMB.
GMB union has today announced that workers at Victoria Park care home in Coventry have voted to back strike action.
The news comes as the latest in the ongoing dispute over the sacking of a popular local care home worker at the care home, run by healthcare giant HC One.
Workers at the care home have joined residents, families and the wider community in calling for the reinstatement of their colleague, who was sacked after raising concerns about the way hospital patients were being referred to the care home [1].
100 percent of care home staff balloted voted to support strike action, with industrial action set for Wednesday 24 January.
Kate Gorton, GMB Organiser, said:
“Workers are furious after bosses sacked a care worker after raising concerns about external referrals being made to the home.
“The staff have worked hard to achieve a top rating for Victoria Park and deserve to be paid and treated better.
“For 12 months HC-One top brass have stubbornly refused to listen to the concerns of our members.
“Now this result shows the depth of workers anger at the way they’ve been treated.
“HC-One have a clear choice in front of them; face weeks of strike chaos or do the right thing by care workers, residents and families”.
A spokesperson from Victoria Park said:
“We pride ourselves on being a safe, welcoming home for people who need care and support, and will not allow anything to compromise the delivery of high-quality care. We will never penalise a colleague for raising concerns and will always take action if needed to improve our policies or practice.
“The change in leadership at the home was subject to a full and thorough HR process and was completed in line with our performance policy. We hold all our colleagues and leaders to the highest standards of professionalism and leadership, and will always act in the best interests of our residents.
“Independently of this, several months later, colleagues shared feedback with us regarding the number of beds available in the home for those leaving hospital. We took immediate action to resolve this matter in partnership with the local authority and our home team. Changes were communicated to all colleagues along with details of our thorough escalation and feedback processes. We have not been made aware of any further concerns.
“In the event of any strike action, we have provisions in place to ensure that the quality and continuity of care we provide to residents is not disrupted. We continue to engage with our GMB partners and colleagues and hope to reach a swift resolution.
“In the past year we have raised the rate of our lowest paid colleagues by 10% – an above-average increase which was received positively by our colleagues from the GMB, and our structured pay zones are consistent with local market rates. We are continuing to work with our local authority partners, who fund the vast majority of our residents. Their support in providing higher fee levels would enable us to pass this on to colleagues in the form of further pay rises.”
