Sunday, May 20, 2007

Health & Safety protest – Monday 21 May Bethnal Green


(UNISON branch press release) “Tomorrow morning Tower Hamlets staff will be protesting at the lack of a screened reception at the new council Homeless Unit (sorry this is late - see my previous post on this issue)

“Whilst they welcome the bright and friendly reception area in a more accessible location for local people, they are concerned about the lack of safety screens. An independent Health and Safety report confirmed the unions (UNISON and GMB) fears that the low unscreened reception disks represent a real safety risk.

A UNISON spokesperson said "We want to give the best service possible to Homeless People. Unfortunately over recent years the Council and government policy have seen Council homes sold off and inadequate building of social housing. Rules on providing homes for homeless have got tougher and tougher. Inevitably in a minority of cases the understandable frustrations of homeless people, sometimes facing desperate circumstances, are taken out on staff they see. There have been dangerous incidents in the past. We believe a screened environment provides safety for staff, and enables them to provide the best service possible for local people".

What this means in real money is that staff trying to give a good service in very difficult circumstance are going to be at much greater risk of serious assault (or worse). Screens have been removed and there is no adequate protection for staff from being assaulted by clients. If management do not provide a safe working environment there will be a ballot for strike action. We have got no choice.

Picture above is of HPU safety reps Mohammed Yunis (GMB), Agnes Rogers (UNISON) and Kieran Floyd (UNISON) with management during the inspection last Wednesday.

I'll post what happened tomorrow.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Following the response on the other blog... I hope you've got the message.

Well, you better had anyway

John Gray said...

Not got a clue what you are going on about?

John Gray said...

thinking about it, I now assume that you are "phil kelly". Just replied to your comment on previous post. Apologies for the delay - I have this need to sleep from time to time.

Anonymous said...

Nothing to do with me John.

Challenging empty rhetoric my department not making cryptic comment.

John Gray said...

apologies Phil.