WALES TUC Congress is a great opportunity for trade unionists to set out how we want to transform people’s livelihoods over the next two years.

In Unison Cymru Wales, we’ll be directing our efforts to winning agreement from Congress for a public campaign to remove all profit from social care. We think a vigorous, energetic campaign led by the TUC, with rallies up and down Wales and local organising groups, would encourage Welsh government to be bolder in its vision for a national care service for Wales.

There is a crisis in the care sector and it is the exploitation of thousands of women who make up the workforce. They are trapped in in-work poverty. They’re dedicated professionals, providing essential care yet earning a pittance and many are forced to rely on benefits to survive.

The way our care system is structured is damaging people’s lives. The private sector is the barrier to improved care because it doesn’t put service users or improved working conditions first. Everyone is being failed by commissioning, outsourcing and years of underfunding.

It’s time to drive profit out of care completely.

The Welsh Labour government deserves great credit for taking important strides forward in the creation of a national care service. This is the result of constant campaigning by unions.

Just because politicians talk about a national care service doesn’t necessarily mean they share our vision of what it would look like — direct delivery of care by reinvigorated local councils and a care workforce treated with the dignity and fair pay they deserve. No more wasteful commissioning.

The Welsh government admits letting private companies make money from looked-after children is a scandal. We think any money removed from care services as profit is scandalous.

We have to get away from a system where care workers are so fed up with a job they love, they walk away to better-paid jobs in Aldi with less responsibility.

You can’t blame them and it’s no surprise there’s a huge staff turnover and high number of vacancies. They are not paid travel time, sick pay or for sleep-ins. There is no career development. Some decide they can’t even afford to contribute to their company’s pension scheme.

It is heart-breaking to hear care workers say such terrible wages rob them of their dignity. The value of their work helping people live better lives is priceless.

The crisis in social care heaps immense pressure on our overstretched health service. You will never solve the emergency in the NHS without first improving care services.

Why aren’t care workers held in the same esteem as NHS colleagues? Care workers say if they were doing the same job in hospitals, they would be earning £5 an hour more. In a working week, a month, a year, that sort of money changes livelihoods and dreams.

In Unison we’ve been busy commissioning reports that have shown millions of pounds that should be invested in vital care services are being siphoned off by private equity groups, taken out of Wales and into offshore tax havens.

Global finance isn’t interested in improving your nan’s quality of care, or the welfare of the support worker providing it. They are laser focused on delivering a profit return for investors. They are not public spirited, private equity will invest in anything that will deliver enormous sums of money. When money is extracted, care workers’ wages are squeezed.

Injecting more public money into care without removing profit would not significantly improve the employment conditions of care workers or quality of care for users.

A public campaign to remove all profit from social care can explain to the public why care would be better under a national care service, where care workers are recognised as the professionals they are and are paid appropriately for their skills and hard work.

At our Congress fringe tonight, Tuesday May 21, we are very pleased to be joined by Andy Mudd from the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE). Andy will speak about the economic rationale for publicly funded, publicly delivered care. If you are in Llandudno, please come along and we’d love to hear what you want from a national care service for Wales.

Together, we can keep the pressure on Welsh government to correct an injustice where thousands of low-paid female care workers and their families have been taken for granted by society.

Jess Turner is Unison Cymru Wales secretary.