Hundreds of care workers employed by Enable Scotland are to take their protest to the Scottish government tomorrow (Thursday) as a row over pay intensifies, says UNISON.
Protestors will set off from Tron Kirk at 10.30am and march down High Street to Holyrood, where a rally will begin outside at 11am.
The demonstration coincides with strikes by Enable Scotland workers in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
That action is part of the first national care strike in Scotland in over a decade, which has already seen walkouts in East Renfrewshire, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.
UNISON Scotland’s lead for social care Jennifer McCarey said: “Care workers have had enough of delays and broken promises and feel they’ve no choice but to take their protest to the Scottish government.”
Enable Scotland employee Anna Baird said: “If ministers value us as much as they say they do, then it’s time they funded social care properly and paid us fairly.
“We love our jobs and don’t want to be on strike. But we are some of the lowest-paid workers in the country and fed up of waiting.”
Notes to editors:
– Enable Scotland staff will assemble at Tron Kirk at 10.30am, to march down High St and rally outside the Scottish Parliament at 11am.
– Enable staff working in Glasgow and Edinburgh will be on strike tomorrow. There won’t be any picket lines, as workers will be attending the march and rally.
– UNISON represents around 600 workers at Enable Scotland.
– UNISON has agreed ‘life and limb’ cover with the employer during the strike to protect those most at risk.
– UNISON is Scotland’s largest union, with more than 150,000 members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors