Unite to ballot for industrial action after Action for Children
sacks workers just before Christmas
23rd December 2009
Unite, the union for not for profit and community workers, will
be preparing for an industrial action ballot of its members at
Action for Children’s ‘House on the Hill’ project in Lewisham,
south London.
This comes after talks between Unite and Action for Children
broke down after the children’s charity refused to reinstate the
employees whose contracts they terminated with notice on 7th
December and then issued new inferior contracts for employees to
sign. This will mean some employees will lose annual leave and
other conditions relating to pay and status which the union
believes breaches the Working Time Regulations.
The ‘sackings’ come after a 14 month dispute between the
employees and Action for Children over weekend working. The
employees feel they have been unfairly treated on this issue and
have been continually frustrated by the failure of the organisation
to deal with the issue.
Despite this, the ‘House on the Hill’ project was recently
awarded an outstanding classification by Ofsted (Office for
Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) and also
received an outstanding rating in every category from the education
watchdog.
Rachael Maskell, Unite national officer for community and not
for profit workers, said: “Employees are feeling totally
demotivated and fed up by the way they have been treated by Action
for Children, whose actions appear not to value the contribution
employees have made to making the ‘House on the Hill’ an
outstanding project.
“Employees at ‘House on the Hill’ are shocked that Action for
Children has refused to listen to them and would risk losing the
majority of the staff team rather than sit down and come to a
resolution that would benefit the organisation, employees and the
children.”
The ‘House on the Hill’ project is the only residential respite
care centre in Lewisham caring for children between the ages of
eight and 18 years of age with physical, emotional, communications
and learning difficulties and disabilities. The centre has been
open for over five years.
ENDS
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