Sick of the system

ON 7 February, council workers in Tower Hamlets, east London went on
strike. They walked out because of a new sickness procedure that the New
Labour-dominated council imposed last September. The strike is a first
step to force the council to throw out this draconian policy.

A Tower Hamlets UNISON, member

The policy sees the implementation of a ‘trigger point’ system –
which means if workers are sick for three days in six months or five
days in one year, they must report every day of any subsequent absence
to ‘First Assist’. First Assist, based in Croydon, is a call centre
where they ask you why you’re sick, what you are doing about it and when
you will be back at work. There are only a couple of qualified
occupational health nurses on site.

Not only do staff have to ring the call centre, in addition to
calling their manager, on every day off sick, but also those on
long-term sick leave have to do the same. The calls cost 10p per minute.

Some workers have had their sick pay stopped and the council has
threatened to take any excess, not correctly reported leave, off annual
leave (although as yet, they have not been able to implement this).

The council introduced this policy to try to live up to the
government’s unrealistic targets for local government. In Tower Hamlets
there is a higher then average absence rate but rather then look at the
reason why, the council prefers to bully its workers into coming to work
when they are sick.

Tower Hamlets is one of the poorest boroughs in the UK. Is it any
wonder that this impacts on the staff – many of whom live in the
borough?

There was a 75% ‘yes’ vote for the strike. It was a success, with two
of the council flagship ‘Ideas Stores’ and many other council buildings
closing, including the Housing Benefits office. There were pickets on
most major council buildings.

The council has contacted UNISON to open up discussions.

To make this campaign a success there must be unity of all the unions
that represent local government workers. The GMB must listen to its
members and ballot for strike action. The campaign must be broadened out
into the community and increase the action.

UNISON’s affiliation to New Labour also needs to be raised. This
dispute is a perfect example of the need for a new party to represent
the working class.