Social workers for Swindon Borough Council will be taking their third day of strike action tomorrow
GMB, the union for social workers, had paused strike action for two weeks to give the council the opportunity to engage in meaningful talks in the ongoing dispute over pay.
The council has now confirmed that they are unwilling to engage in talks with GMB to resolve the strike and as such the strike action will recommence from Tuesday [19 March] morning.
Andy Newman, GMB Branch Secretary said:
“We believe that the current social worker strike in Swindon is resolvable if Swindon Borough Council were willing to engaging in meaningful talks at ACAS.
“We put this to the council in the hope that they would be as keen as we are to see this issue resolved, however they made it abundantly clear that they will not meet with GMB to find a way through the issues.
“GMB social workers will now take strike action for 2 days and we will continue to set dates for work to rule until the matter is resolved.
“These social workers carry out extremely specialist work, looking after some of the most vulnerable in Swindon.
“Everyone’s focus should be on getting this despite resolved which is why our members agreed a pause to the action.
“The council claims to care about the wellbeing of their staff but they refuse to meet with the staff’s chosen union to resolve the issues.”
