Staff at Cornerstone have voted by 92% to reject a pay offer, which the organisation describes as very fair
Staff at a social care charity have voted overwhelmingly to reject a pay offer.
Unison members working at Cornerstone have rejected their employer’s pay deal in a consultative ballot – with 92% of members knocking it back.
The union said it had never seen such a strength of feeling among its members in the charity sector.
In response, Cornerstone said it did not feel the vote reflected the views of the majority of its workforce and that it believed it had made a very fair pay offer.
Unison is calling on Cornerstone to get back around the table and negotiate a deal for the staff - who support people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, autism and dementia across Scotland.
Deborah Clarke, Unison regional organiser, said: “This ballot result is an amazing show of strength by a predominantly female workforce and shows the tide is turning. Employers can no longer expect to get cheap labour on the backs of low-paid women.
“Cornerstone says it believes in fair work, so it beggars belief that they are refusing to engage with their staff on fair pay. Cornerstone needs to listen to their dedicated and exceptional workforce and get back around the negotiating table and deliver a fair pay deal for staff.”
Mike Kirby, the union’s Scottish secretary, said the result of the ballot shows carers feel they deserve more. He said: “Caring roles, which are carried out predominantly by women, remain chronically undervalued. Today’s ballot result shows that carers know they are worth more and are prepared to fight for the pay they deserve.
“Our carers carry out some of the most important roles in our communities and they need to be paid fairly for the vital services they deliver.”
Edel Harris, chief executive of Cornerstone, said that the charity was committed to ensuring its staff felt valued.
She said: “Cornerstone has embarked on an ambitious journey to transform social care in the UK. At the heart of our strategy, Local Cornerstone, is a commitment to genuinely valuing social care as a profession. Obviously we are disappointed to see that 92% of people who responded to the ballot rejected what we feel is a very fair pay offer.
“We are not confident, from feedback we regularly receive from our colleagues, that the Unison membership vote reflects the views of the majority of our workforce.”
Annie Gunner Logan, director of the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS), said social care organisations faced a challenge to implement the Scottish Living Wage as resources required from the government to deliver improved terms often do not arrive.
“Our partners in the trades unions are well aware of the challenges we are facing in this regard,” she said.
“Providers in our sector are, as a consequence, looking at innovative ways to reconfigure their support offer in a way that can both accommodate funding constraints and enable them to continue to value their staff highly and reward them appropriately.
“In many respects, Cornerstone has been in the vanguard of such innovation and I know that the outcome of this ballot will come as a major disappointment to a team of people who are trying hard to improve the working conditions of a predominantly female social care workforce.”
