The BBC reports that care workers demanding the living wage in Doncaster have begun a 14-day strike. Care UK cares for 140 people with learning disabilities in about 40 properties in Doncaster.
Unison members said the company should increase workers’ wages from £7 to the national living wage of £7.65 an hour. Chris Hindle of Care UK said the pay demands were “simply unrealistic” and “at odds with what is happening in the NHS.”
The national company bids for health and social care contracts from the NHS. In Doncaster, it provides assisted living for people with learning disabilities in their homes.
When the strike ends members will have taken 48 days of industrial action since disputes began last September. Jim Bell of Unison said about 120 of 150 Care UK Unison members had gone on strike in Doncaster. Four years of pay freezes had made it “impossible to meet the basic costs of living,” Mr Bell said.
