I MET a social worker friend of mine the other day. I hadn’t seen her for some time but knew her when she first became a social worker — enthusiastic, committed, determined to make the difference that she no doubt has.

But she told me that she’d had it with local authority social work. She is working a 70-hour week most weeks just to get through the work. She’s exhausted, has no work-life balance and is losing touch with friends because she is always too tired to socialise.

And I thought to myself — this is the hidden impact of austerity in Scotland — of the cuts to public services. The unseen consequences of asking so many public service workers to do more with less. And we’re ripe for exploitation since so many of us choose to work in public services because we want to help people — whether in social work like my friend and I, or in the myriad of other key professions and roles covered by the umbrella “public services.”

We have always gone above and beyond, but now employers depend on it and abuse it.

Over recent years, Unison Scotland has conducted a series of “Damage Reports” surveying members across public services on the impact of austerity. These have heard from workers in services as diverse as libraries, home care, trading standards, health visitors, registrars, youth work and waste management.

All of them talk about having to do more with fewer resources and fewer staff.

All of them speak of their frustrations at being unable to maintain the standards of service they used to take pride in and that people deserve.

And all of them talk about the impact this has not just on the services they provide but on their own emotional wellbeing.

It’s often hard to fight cuts to public services because in many authorities they are being salami sliced — what City of Edinburgh Unison has called “the silent slaughter of public services.”

Services don’t close but the availability reduces, the quality drops and staff are put under increasing pressure to fill up the gaps left by absent colleagues — those who have taken up voluntary severance or early retirement or who are off sick often with stress-related illnesses, or who have been dismissed under increasingly draconian HR policies.

Health, local government and other sectors have won healthy three-year pay deals

Because this is the other challenge we are facing. As our members buckle under the demands of providing services with fewer staff, and sickness absence rises, putting even more pressure on those left behind, HR policies and procedures in many councils have become harsher.

Sickness absence policies have been transformed into attendance management — less a tool to support staff back into safe and healthy employment and more a stringent monitoring tool and a stick to beat workers with.

Hitting absence triggers, regardless of the reason, can take staff down the road to capability procedures and dismissal. So workers who find themselves under attendance management come into work when they are clearly unfit, just so as not to hit that next trigger.

Not good for staff who are already struggling with their mental health and wellbeing and especially bad news for our disabled colleagues.

Unison in Scotland has had some major successes recently. Health, local government and other sectors have won healthy three-year pay deals. Better even than that, our members’ confidence is increasing as they have seen the action they have taken on pay, locally and nationally, make a difference.

No pay negotiations until 2020 gives us a great opportunity to now turn our attention to our members’ working conditions.   

Local government branches like Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire have already initiated “Say No to Overwork” campaigns. And West Dunbartonshire branch has issued a consultative ballot to social work members, seeking their support for action.

Action not for more money or for better terms and conditions but just for the resources to enable them to do their job in a safe working environment, where they are not putting either their registration and livelihoods, nor vulnerable children at risk.

Inspired by the women of Glasgow’s equal pay campaign and recognising that if workers are not able to do their jobs properly it’s the vulnerable service users that suffer, they are saying enough is enough.

These are tough times for public service workers, and especially those who work in or are funded by Scottish councils, who have borne the brunt of the cuts passed on by this Scottish government.
But there are chinks of light showing.

We are seeing sure signs that our members are growing in confidence that they can make a difference. With the support of their union, emboldened to act rather than leave.

We need to build on this. We need to nurture these tender shoots and organise; to share good practice across the union and learn from each other.

We need to empower our members to know that together we can make a difference — not just for ourselves as workers but for the crucial services we all provide.
 
Kate Ramsden is Unison Scotland communications and campaigns committee and NEC member