"Tories threaten West Berkshire Home Care Service" - Hunneman

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 19th Apr 2007

Tories threaten West Berkshire's Home Care Service

Careworkers employed by West Berkshire Council are up in arms over new arrangements to harmonise their work contracts, Liberal Democrats have revealed. Councillor Roger Hunneman attended a meeting of the district's careworkers last week and was extremely concerned:

"West Berkshire's careworkers have been employed under a number of different types of contracts which the Council is trying to harmonise. The process of switching these contracts has been totally mismanaged. At no stage were our employees properly consulted, and a number of them were left concerned that they would lose their jobs if they did not sign the new contract. The Tory portfolio holder has shown no interest in this process and is currently sunning himself on a beach in Florida. Our careworkers provide a superb standard of care and deserve to be treated well."

Leader of the Liberal Democrats, and Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Commission (the body which holds the Council accountable for its actions), Councillor Jeff Brooks outlined his next steps:

"I have already insisted that a full list of standard questions and answers are sent out to these vital workers. The Tories have completely neglected this process - yet another example of their crass laziness and total incompetence. If we are successful in the May elections, the Liberal Democrats will institute a committee to oversee all of these sensitive staff matters. We will not simply leave this to officers to implement. That will be the difference between the Tories and ourselves - we will put in the hard work."