22 April 2021

Care and Support Workers ORGANISE! are a network of care workers and lay trade unionists coming together, across unions to fight for better.

Care and Support Workers ORGANISE! formed during the pandemic and have only recently constituted. The group has limited resources but if you would like to request a speaker then please contact careworkersorganise@gmail.com and they will try there best to get someone to come to speak to your group/event on the motion and our experiences throughout the pandemic.

Following the disgraceful ruling by the Supreme Court to deny care and support workers the National Living Wage (NLW) whilst on sleep in shifts, care and support workers are beginning to organise to protect their terms and conditions.

Care and support workers have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic supporting those most at risk of the virus. They have faced PPE shortages, understaffing and battled to even receive full sick pay when displaying symptoms of COVID-19 or needing to self-isolate.

We clapped them on our doorsteps, recognised their skills and the vital work, which keeps our communities functioning. This ruling devalues their hard work and gives a green light to unscrupulous employers to attack the pay packets.

Care and Support Workers ORGANISE! Are reaching out to local communities, trade union colleagues and those in the labour movement who are willing to take action and stand with them demanding this ruling is not used against these workers already receiving poverty wages.

Salford City Council has already pledged to defend these workers’ rates of pay. Precedent has been set and we now need pressure from below to ensure other Local Authorities follow suit.

A motion in support of these workers – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1elZac02VYKsyjG7Xd-ZEJdPJMFBiJ-ggimzEe-BlIG4/edit

If the motion is passed at your local CLP, union branch, trades council, community organisation etc. Please sign the pledge as an organisation to support these workers –

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfQGJzEhwHkW9vgGF2Qi1QUEB-e_f4VGwN-5a7uO0E8NvFjBg/viewform

We need as many people to contact their local councillors as possible. It is vital that they understand the depth of public feeling around this. Here is a template letter to send to your local councillors –

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gkofN7pVCvVoBYbQhRb338o4x5p4Wh1cYABsvCIg5-U/edit