Staff let down by Scottish ministers

Hundreds of Enable Scotland workers 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.”

The walkouts are the first national care strike in Scotland for more than a decade. It comes after years of broken promises and delays by the Scottish government to reform and fund social care properly, says Unison. 

The union says care staff have been left with no option after being consistently let down by ministers.

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.”