UNISON members working for Barnet council in north London started their second 48-hour strike against outsourcing today.
The dispute involves coach escorts, drivers, social workers, occupational therapists, schools catering staff, education welfare officers, library workers, children centre workers, street cleaning and refuse workers, who still work for the council and have made it clear that they want to stay as council employees.
As well as mounting picket lines on both days, striking members will march to a rally tomorrow.
“Our members want to work for the council, they want to be directly accountable to the residents of Barnet,” said branch secretary John Burgess.
“Our members don’t want to work for an employer that will have to place the shareholders’ legal demands before local residents’ needs.
“Our members don’t want to work for an employer that uses zero-hours contracts.
“Our members don’t want to work for an employer that will not pay the London living wage as a basic minimum.
“Our members don’t want to work for an employer that won’t allow their colleagues to belong to their pension scheme, and our members don’t want to work for an employer that will take jobs out of the borough.
“That’s why 87% of our members working for the council voted ’yes’ to taking strike action. So far, the council has failed to come close to agreeing to any one of these demands.”