A major care home employer in Leicestershire that planned to drastically cut staff rights and has now issued redundancy notices to workers on the front line in the fight against Covid-19 has today (Monday) been condemned by UNISON.
Newly revealed proposals by Leicestershire County Care would see job losses for up to 98 staff who are facing daily coronavirus risks as they help vulnerable elderly people. The union says the plans are ‘disgraceful’.
UNISON East Midlands regional secretary Chris Jenkinson said: “It’s absolutely shameful that Leicestershire County Care is behaving in this way when staff are working around the clock to provide the best possible patient care in a pandemic.
“The proposed redundancies are totally unnecessary as the demand for care work is only set to increase with an ageing population. This is just a cynical attempt to cut costs and protect company profits at Leicestershire County Care, whose parent company Johnson Care Group made accumulated profits of £4.8m last year.
“It’s absolutely vital that Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council take responsibility for the care services they commission and ensure these care workers are still able to provide high quality care to patients now and into the future. This disgraceful attempt to cut costs will have a severe impact on the ability to deliver high quality care to patients.
“The leaders of both the county and city councils must stand up for these workers and the patients that they care for.”
Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union, with more than 1.3 million members providing public services – in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in both the public and private sectors.
Media contacts:
Elliot Dean M: 07852 155 730 E: e.dean@unison.co.uk