By John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter: Children will not come to harm when 28 social workers go on strike this week, a top boss at Bath and North East Somerset Council has insisted
Team managers and deputy team managers in the council’s children’s services department are set to take industrial action on Wednesday May 20, Thursday May 19, and Friday May 22 over changes to pay gradings which put them on the same grade as some of the staff they manage. The affected staff, who are represented by trade union Unison, previously went on strike for a “day of action” in March.
“I think both our striking colleagues, who I have a lot of respect for, and those colleagues who will provide cover, will do their very best to ensure that children do not come to harm.”
Questioned by councillors at a scrutiny panel on Monday, the council’s executive director of people Darryl Freeman said: “Strike action is disruptive and it will be disruptive to the service […]. That is different to children being placed at harm.
He told councillors that the strike action had been disruptive in the sense that managers in other roles had to stop their work to provide cover for the strike. But he said: “I categorically reject the idea that there has been a failure to support children.”
Mr Freeman also hit back at claims the staff received “paltry pay.” He said: “As they have chosen to raise the issue in this way, let me be clear what their pay is. A deputy team manager receives a salary in the band of £47,181 to £51,356 per annum, and a team manager receives a salary in the band of £52,413 to £57,864 per annum.”
He said this was “broadly in the mid-range of salaries” paid by councils in the revision for this role. He said the salaries would receive an uplift from the national pay award which would be backdated to April.
Councillor Joanna Wright (Lambridge, Green) said: “In the scheme of this world where living costs are seriously high, I don’t think anybody earning that much money is on a lot of money any more.”
Responding to claims that the council’s meetings with Unison — carried out though the advisory, conciliation, and arbitration service (Acas) — had not happened since February, Mr Freeman said that this was true. But he said that the council had still been communicating with the union.
He said it was an oversight for the council not to have responded to Unison when it informed it on May 6 about the plan to strike, as the council had asked Acas for assistance before responding. He said: “I am sorry for that oversight.”
The council and Unison were due to meet on Monday, after the scrutiny panel meeting, for more discussions.
Announcing last week that the strike action would take place, Unison South West regional secretary Tim Roberts said: “This strike action shows the depth of feeling among staff over the council’s failure to resolve concerns about pay and grading. Children’s social care managers do highly skilled and demanding work supporting vulnerable children and families. They shouldn’t have to fight to be paid fairly.
“The council must now come back with a clear and credible offer that properly addresses staff concerns and helps prevent further disruption to services.”
When Unison balloted the affected staff in January and February, 100% backed strike action on a 94% turnout. Original plans for an 11-day strike were suspended after a council offer, but industrial relations between the council and staff working in its children’s social care department remain at a low point.
At the same time as the pay dispute, plans for a controversial restructure of the teams in the department, which would lead to five redundancies and require many other social workers to change roles, led to Unison holding large protests outside council meetings. Twice, council meetings in Bath’s Guildhall have been disrupted by the sound of protesting social workers outside.
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