Socialist Party Wales Socialism In Wales
By Dave Reid (Cardiff Trades Union Council)
Unite members working for Cardiff Labour Council’s Telecare Department, supported by other council workers and Cardiff Trades Council, were out lobbying the Council against the dangerous situations that the council management are putting them into.
Telecare workers are dedicated professionals who provide a vital 24 hour emergency response service for 5,000 vulnerable people across Cardiff, yet they’re being treated unfairly and put at risk.
Alone, they face violence, substance misuse, and mental health crises, after the Council scrapped paired working, leaving them to deal with dangerous situations by themselves.
Telecare workers are required to attend service users’ homes to help them and check they are OK, sometimes going into dangerous and traumatic situations alone, often into situations that police officers attend in pairs. Members have been threatened with guns and violence and used to work in pairs, but since 2019 the council management has insisted that with a rising workload they work alone.
Workers lobbying the council reported that with mental health issues and substance abuse on the rise, risk levels have been rising and management has been ignoring their concerns – they have had enough. “It’s only a matter of time before there is a serious violent incident”.
Lone working breaches Cardiff Council’s own Health & Safety standards and the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, which requires employers to eliminate or control risks. And they are refused annual leave when requested and are told to find their own cover, breaching the Council’s Work-Life Balance Policy.
Unite is calling on Cardiff Council to:
• Reinstate two-person responder working for safety.
• Reinstate a fair annual leave policy – one person off per shift, not per day.
• Honour their own Health & Safety and Work-Life Balance commitments.
If workload has increased, that should be met with increased staffing, not dangerous working. Fight for full funding!
