This week my fellow members of Unite and I who work in Aberdeen City Council’s housing services department are being balloted for industrial action.
You may be tempted to think that this is about a group of workers fighting over better pay and conditions. While that is part of it, the fight is actually much bigger – it is about you just as much as me.
It’s about you because the dispute we are involved in with the council is over the investment and quality of the housing service we are trying to provide to you as a council tax payer, and for the most vulnerable in our city.
The reality is that we are being asked to deliver a service which has grown more than three times in terms of need, but at the same time the housing services department has suffered continuous cuts. We are concerned that changes in the council will mean that we will be unable to provide the level of service that we currently do for tenants.
We have worked longer hours than ever before, and often work hours that we don’t get paid for
Changes have to take place but the ones which are being brought forward, including combining the roles of the housing and support officers, are not about service improvement but cost savings.
We are at breaking point
My fellow workers and I are at breaking point in terms of workload, lack of support and feeling undervalued. We have worked longer hours than ever before, and often work hours that we don’t get paid for. Local government pay is also under the spotlight across Scotland, as the membership of all the major trade unions have rejected the current pay offer.
Over the last year of the pandemic, we have faced massive pressures due to a rise in housing arears and homeless figures. Rent arrears have risen from £2.64 million in 2015-16 to £7.9m in 2020-21. Aberdeen had 1,486 homeless applications in 2019-20 – up from 1,285 in 2015-16.
I’m in no doubt that the rise in housing arrears is directly related to the massive economic hardship which has been caused to the Aberdeen economy by the Covid-19 pandemic, and lower levels of income.
Even those helped by the job retention scheme have suffered in terms of take-home pay, which has impacted on their ability to pay the rent on time.
There is no other choice but to make a stand
As we come out of this pandemic, no one can predict its exact effects on the citizens of Aberdeen. Numerous businesses, large and small, have closed, resulting in thousands of job losses, and there has been an explosion in demand for mental health and support services. But I fear that we will not have the time or capacity to give help or support to the people who need it the most.
We hope the people of Aberdeen will understand why we are taking this stand and support us because, ultimately, we are supporting you
In any job, never mind one that helps those most in need and prevents people from becoming homeless, if you were asked to do three or four times more work while being given less help to do it, you wouldn’t stand for it.
We should be backing our housing support services, not cutting support for workers – and, consequently, people who require our help – at the moment of greatest need.
Our industrial action ballot closes on May 24. I fully expect that we will vote for industrial action. We believe that there is no other choice for us but to make a stand, not only for us as the workers, but for you.
We hope the people of Aberdeen will understand why we are taking this stand and support us because, ultimately, we are supporting you.
