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Crisis in Care: Interview with an anarchist support worker

The Fargate Speaker | 31.01.2011 20:57 | Health | Public sector cuts | Workers' Movements | Sheffield

The Fargate Speaker talks to a local support worker about the problems in social care as a result of the recession and the proposed austerity measures.

I work as a support worker for a private company that provides social care for people in Sheffield for people with learning disabilities and mental health issues. The company I work operates across the city. According to government officials, cuts to public spending will not harm front line services, workers, or service users. The reality of the situation is that working conditions are getting worse, day services are closing down, and those paying for the support services are being excluded from any of the decisions relating to care they supposedly direct and influence.

The Sheffield city council budget has been slashed by 8.35% for next year, and this has amounted to a huge cut to front line care. What this has amounted to on the ground is a huge reduction in staffing levels, pushing local unemployment even higher. Those left in the job are left with the unenviable task of filling in the gaps, which means being over worked, and stressed. Many care workers, some with over 20 years experience, are finding it too stressful to carry on, and are walking away from the job, meaning that the most qualified staff in the company are leaving, while new employees, who often aren’t given a decent (and legally required) level of training before they are left to work with clients. This is dangerous to both clients, who often have serious health issues, and to workers, who are not given help to do the job safely (some clients have histories of challenging behaviour, violence etc)

Many of the people I work with have been sent into intense panic, fearing that their disability benefits will be cut and that they will be forced onto a work fare scheme in order to claim. This has led to increased difficulties at work, which again impacts upon the well being of clients and staff. For staff, we have been given an indefinite pay freeze (rates of pay are already extremely low – and the price of food, bills, rent etc has risen fairly sharply in recent months) and a loss of a chance of promotion and advancement within the company. The tactics of management have in recent weeks been an attempt to shift responsibility downwards. In essence, this means an unpaid promotion – increased work hours and responsibilities without extra pay. People are worried, and the constant upheavals in company policy leave staff and clients confused. Many people within the company care deeply about the people they support, and the fact that they are leaving is causing massive emotional stress on all sides.

The company I work for claims to be not-for-profit, this tends to give people the impression that the company operates with some kind of ethical policy. The reality is that instead of money being invested in desperately needed equipment for staff (such as computers that are less than a decade old) instead money has been spent on redecorating the offices of the executive managers and the reception area of the company (in order to make it ‘look more professional’ – the appearance of good care being more easily achieved than the practice of good care).

The company has also engaged in the bizarre tactic of employing agency staff to work as short term “bank workers” in order to plug the gaps created by the redundancies they have introduced. This means that for every worker the company gets from an agency they are paying for two (agencies charge ‘service rates’ which are roughly the same as the employees wages). Essentially this means that the company is firing experienced and dedicated workers to employ untrained and short term agency workers, while paying double the cost for the privilege. The reasons behind this plan seem fairly obvious. Agency workers are in a precarious position, and if they complain about being over worked, and under paid then they can be fired with no notice, whereas an employee cannot. The changes that management want to bring in over the next few months require a work force that does not feel secure, and able to resist the exploitation that is happening.

The Fargate Speaker
- e-mail: fargatespeaker@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://thefargatespeaker.wordpress.com

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

with you except....

01.02.2011 23:34

for one small point. also an anarchist care worker i think this is a really good article. just picking really but when you describe agency workers as 'untrained' this is totally untrue. although agency staff aren't great for continuity of care (which is especially important if the service user has a condition such as autism), it is also a precarious position for the worker and open to exploitation but agency workers are generally required to have either 8mths-1yr+ experience or an NVQ2+ which should render them at least competent.

b


@ b

02.02.2011 11:16

Hi b, thanks for the clarification. I didn't mean to imply that agency workers don't know what they are doing. I empathise with their position, and they are being totally screwed by employers. I more meant that it often takes a long time for staff to form a close working relationship with people they support. The nature of agency workers means that there are often rotated regularly, which means the service users don't have time to get to know them which is is bad for the quality of care.

anarchist care worker


contradiction

02.02.2011 19:16

good article, apart from this. is there not a contradiction between having an anarchist position ie anti statist and then at the same time complaining that the government are making cuts. ie the state should look after people. this is a contradiction in anarchism, because you are anti state and at the same time complain that the state is being cut down. perhaps you ought to choose a more consistent ideology.

marc


@ Marc

03.02.2011 13:51

Personally i see no contradiction. I also think that work is exploitative and in an ideal future society would be done as little as possible - doesn't stop me having a job, which i need to do because i am a worker in a capitalist system. I don't idealise state funded social care, there are massive problems with it (people get lost in the system, there is a lot of bureaucracy etc) and ideally care would be provided collectively in a communal/municipal way - and cash would have nothing to do with it at all! But the simple fact is that decent pay, decent conditions and free care are all things that working class people have struggled for and won. People need to be fighting to make things better and for the working class to have more and more, under its own control, and letting things get put into the control of private companies who only care about profit is a step backwards in my view. I was asked to write about what my experiences are at work by the Fargate Speaker and thats exactly what i did. Your observation that as an anarchist i should welcome anything anti state is pretty trite - right wing libertarians are anti state, and i would disagree with them if one of them tried to close down some hospitals etc because they weren't cost effective, which is essentially what the state is doing right now with public service cuts.

anarchist care worker


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