05.01.17
Unison: Cuts culture could lead to mass exodus of council staff
Local government is undergoing a crisis of stressed and dissatisfied workers due to the effects of public sector cuts, which could lead to a mass exodus of staff, a new report has revealed.
A survey of over 2,200 Unison members working in councils and schools found rising stress levels in almost three quarters of respondents due to low pay and growing workloads, with 62% considering leaving their employer as a result.
The report reveals the increasing tension surrounding public services and has led to a call by Unison for the government to invest in the workforce and protect employees’ pay and conditions.
“While investment in employees is often seen as distinct from investment in services, in reality, the two are intrinsically linked,” said the authors of the report, Steve Glenn, Ken Mulkearn and Louisa Withers.
“Those working in local government are on the frontline of delivering public services, face-to-face and often under difficult circumstances. They keep people safe, housed, educated and cared for. Local government workers tell us that protecting pay and conditions is the most important way to help staff provide those services.”
With over half a million jobs lost in local government since 2010, the results of the survey expose a toxic scenario of workers doing ‘more for less’, with 60% working beyond their contracted hours to handle increased public demand and an increased workload from cost-cutting reorganisations.
However, local government pay and conditions remain worse than anywhere else in the public sector, with nearly 30% of workers paid below ‘the’ real Living Wage as determined by the Living Wage Foundation and around 75% of workers noting a deterioration of benefits such as overtime and sick pay since 2010. Two-fifths also reported receiving no training in the last 12 months.
Unsurprisingly, 62% of administrative and clerical workers have now considered leaving their employer, with over half reporting that stress at work has affected both their job performance and personal life and 40% are actively looking to leave their jobs.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognise that this has a knock-on effect upon local services,” the authors commented.
Despite the threat of redundancy and increasing pressures, Unison noted a willingness in local government workers to adapt to change ‘if it improves services for the public’, as has been the case since its first survey of its members in 2001.
Workers saw job security as the most important issue to be addressed by the union with 98% of respondents indicating it as ‘fairly’ or ‘very important’, followed by equal pay (97%), more pay (96%), a decent pension (93%) and job-related training (91%).
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