Take profit out of health – Care workers need our full wage if off sick

By a Scottish care worker and Unison member

The ongoing row between care providers, trade unions and the Scottish government over full sick pay for staff who have to self-isolate is a national scandal. For me and my colleagues who work in care it comes as no surprise.

The standard terms and conditions within the privatised care sector is that our pay drops to the statutory level of £95 a week when we are ill. Like most low paid ‘unskilled’ workers we have become used to working whilst unwell because we cant afford to go for three days without pay in order to even qualify for SSP. The risk of having service users fall ill due to staff spreading common illness is of secondary importance to filling the space on the rota as far as the bosses are concerned

The issue of staff sickness has come into sharp focus with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Public health advice that has informed people that they must stay at home if they show any symptoms has brought the problems with sick pay to the fore.

Back in March the government announced that the three day wait to qualify for SSP was to be cancelled and that it would be paid from day one. This was a small step in the right direction but doesn’t begin to go far enough.

Mass testing of care staff and service users is being belatedly rolled out by the government – almost three months after the pandemic hit Scotland. But this leaves care workers in a particularly worrying situation.

What if you are not sick but have the need to get tested? The results of the test take up to 72 hours to come through, and the current advice is that you can’t go to work in that time. As things stand we will need to drop three quarters of our wages in order to ensure that we don’t unwittingly spread the virus.

Full wages need to be paid when we are off with any covid-related absence. This problem needs to be addressed decisively and fully, with the cash made available immediately.

We are still waiting for the pay rise that was promised from April, with employers pleading poverty and using the same old excuse that they will pay us once they receive the extra funding. Wage increases are never met out of the cash reserves or the profit margins in care.

We cant afford to wait for the crumbs from the table when it comes to our safety. It is vital that care workers join a union and begin to organise. We need to collectively demand that our safety and the safety of our service users is the highest priority. 

It’s a disgrace that the SNP teamed up with the Tories at Holyrood to vote down the right of care workers to have national collective bargaining over our pay and rights at work. 

We need to demand that mass testing and screening is rolled out in order to identify Covid outbreaks at the earliest opportunity. We need to demand that any promises made on pay are actually followed through.

And certainly staff and service users need a fully publicly owned and democratically run care sector. One where the profit motive is binned and the needs for those who work in and rely on care services come first.