Angry GMB Carers Take To The Carmarthenshire Streets In Protest At Back Door Privatisation

26 Mar 2007

Home Carers employed by Carmarthenshire County Council angered by the Council's strategy of increasing the amount of home care packages allocated to the independent sector are to stage demonstrations in Carmarthenshire.

The Director of Social Services, Mr Bruce McLernon has failed to give assurances to dedicated care staff employed by the Council that the in-house service will retain its share of the care packages. He has also declined to give union leaders an indication of how much of the care service is to be transferred to the private sector.

The carers' unions GMB, TGWU and UNISON have organised three demonstrations to take place in Carmarthenshire during March and April.

30^th March 2007 in Ammanford
14^th April 2007 in Llanelli
28^th April 2007 in Carmarthen

The Director of Social Services has been invited to attend the rallies to put across the Council's case to carers, service users, their families and the general public, who are all invited to participate in the demonstrations.

Jeff Burns, Swansea based GMB Regional Organiser speaking on behalf of the carers' trade unions said today "Dress it up whichever way you like, this is privatisation of the care service by the back door. The Council want a bigger, but cheaper and nastier service than what is currently provided. Carers have made substantial sacrifices to their conditions of employment over many years. This is an act of abject betrayal by the Council. We are hoping that service users, their families and the general public will support our demonstrations".

The unions are planning a meeting with the Council but are not optimistic about any change in the Council's Care programme.

-End-

Contact: Jeff Burns, Swansea based GMB Regional Organiser on 01792 467803 Mobile or 07980 753115, Steve Pryle, GMB Press Officer on 07921 289880 or Rose Conroy, GMB Press Officer on 07974 251 823

Inside Press Archived releases Join press mailing list Subscribe Name Surname Email Subscribe to the GMB newsletter Site Tools Print this page Using PDFs	Angry GMB Carers Take To The Carmarthenshire Streets In Protest At Back Door Privatisation Unions fix three dates for street protests in three areas in the county over the next month. 26 Mar 2007 Home Carers employed by Carmarthenshire County Council angered by the Council's strategy of increasing the amount of home care packages allocated to the independent sector are to stage demonstrations in Carmarthenshire. The Director of Social Services, Mr Bruce McLernon has failed to give assurances to dedicated care staff employed by the Council that the in-house service will retain its share of the care packages. He has also declined to give union leaders an indication of how much of the care service is to be transferred to the private sector. The carers' unions GMB, TGWU and UNISON have organised three demonstrations to take place in Carmarthenshire during March and April. 30^th March 2007 in Ammanford 14^th April 2007 in Llanelli 28^th April 2007 in Carmarthen The Director of Social Services has been invited to attend the rallies to put across the Council's case to carers, service users, their families and the general public, who are all invited to participate in the demonstrations. Jeff Burns, Swansea based GMB Regional Organiser speaking on behalf of the carers' trade unions said today "Dress it up whichever way you like, this is privatisation of the care service by the back door. The Council want a bigger, but cheaper and nastier service than what is currently provided. Carers have made substantial sacrifices to their conditions of employment over many years. This is an act of abject betrayal by the Council. We are hoping that service users, their families and the general public will support our demonstrations". The unions are planning a meeting with the Council but are not optimistic about any change in the Council's Care programme. -End- Contact: Jeff Burns, Swansea based GMB Regional Organiser on 01792 467803 Mobile or 07980 753115, Steve Pryle, GMB Press Officer on 07921 289880 or Rose Conroy, GMB Press Officer on 07974 251 823	Inside Campaigns GMB Christmas Appeal Update and Authentication Thanks to all of you who have already sent cheques to help SITRAP trade union activist, Allan Hernandez Venegas and his family, in response to our GMB Christmas Appeal. Unfortunately, owing to the preponderance of scam e-mails soliciting money, and gremlins in the system that prevented us from including photographs, many of you were not convinced that the appeal was genuine.
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