Last Monday we reached an agreement with Alpha Care which satisfies the economic demands made by a former worker. This company, specialising in home-care, owed the worker some unpaid hours, mileage and holiday pay. She decided to leave the company because of the working conditions.

Liverpool SolFed supported the worker’s demands and distributed, along with other workers, a leaflet giving information about the dispute and encouraging them to organise for better working conditions.

Finally, Alpha Care agreed to pay the full amount demanded. However, the company did not acknowledge any debt and accused the worker and SolFed of “…not having followed the right procedures and acting in bad will”. According to them they only paid in order to not to see our faces anymore. Whatever the reason, at least the worker got the owed wages.

In today’s climate of privatisations and undermining working conditions, care workers are suffering a lot. Liverpool SolFed urges care workers to organise in order to fight back and improve working conditions in the sector. Among other problems, carers are suffering:

• No guaranteed or uncertain hours
• Unpaid travel time between jobs
• Below minimum wage in real terms
• Unpaid/unplanned breaks and expected to rest between jobs
• Inadequate training, left feeling unprepared and unsupported
• Unsafe manual handling and under staffing
• Lone-working in high risk environments.