• I ATTENDED the caretaking review workshop held by New Labour Camden at Pancras Square last week.

My advice to the review was to scrap the new contracts they have been foisting upon their caretakers (and other council staff). The previous contracts specified a basic working week of 37.5 hours. The new contract changes this to 37.5 hours “plus”.

This has severe consequences for the caretakers, who stand to lose thousands of pounds per year. Where previously they would get time-and-a-half for working on a Saturday, this premium has now been scrapped. Where previously they would get double-time for Sunday working, this has now been slashed to a mere 10 per cent premium that only kicks in from the fourth hour of work onwards.

Those caretakers bravely holding out against signing the new deal have been told that they may end up being sacked and then immediately reinstated on the new deal. This will affect their occupational pensions because they are calculated on the basis of the length of your continuous service.

At the caretaking review, Camden tried to justify getting everyone onto the new contract by saying that you can’t have some caretakers getting paid thousands of pounds more than others for doing the same job.

I would suggest, therefore, that rather than have a race to the bottom, Camden scraps the new contracts completely and pays everyone properly. The silence from the trade unions and Jeremy Corbyn-supporting councillors on this issue has been deafening. The result is that the caretakers are being picked off one by one.

New Labour Camden, along with their fellow red Tory local authorities all over the country, has taken a political decision to manage austerity rather than fight it. It is high time the Corbyn-supporting councillors and the trade unions got together to support their workers and reverse this right-wing agenda.

LOUIS LOIZOU
NW5