A director at strike-hit Sirona care & health is getting more in pension contributions than one of its workers earns in a year, according to research published by UNISON.
The highest paid director at Sirona received £17,332 towards their pension, and £154,138 in pay in the 2016 to 2017 financial year, according to the company’s annual accounts.
The director’s pension contributions are higher than the annual wage the company pays the majority of its care workers who are in dispute with their employer over new rotas.
More than 100 care staff represented by UNISON took part in another 24-hour strike yesterday, Wednesday 11th July, in opposition to Sirona’s plans to force them to work extra shifts for ‘free’, or see their pay cut.
Talks between UNISON and Sirona have been ongoing since the initial strike at the start of June but have yet to reach agreement.
The dispute began after Sirona said it needed to save £170,000 because Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES) has cut the amount it pays the company to provide care to local residents.
UNISON South West regional organiser John Drake said: “There’s not enough money going into social care. That’s why the sector is in crisis across the UK.
“With money so tight, it’s immoral that a Sirona director is paid more than the Prime Minister. Many care support staff would have to work for more than 12 years to even get close to that level of wage.
“Staff don’t want to take strike action. They hate interrupting the care they give to elderly and vulnerable people across the area.
“But they’re also determined not to suffer the consequences of yet more financial cutbacks in the care sector. This dispute needs resolving once and for all.”
In a statement, Janet Rowse, Chief Executive of Sirona, said: “Unison discussing the pay figures for senior staff is a distraction from the several attempts which we have made to bring the dispute to a close and finding a way forward should be our focus.
“We are disappointed that our second offer of a significant one-off payment to staff to try and find a solution has been rejected by Unison.
“I believe that we have been fair and reasonable within the resources available to us for these services and we have tried hard to accommodate staff requests including protecting alternate weekends off.
“We’re pleased that more than half of those affected have already accepted the new rotas; it is regrettable that we are now covering 25 consecutive walk-outs including middle of the night strikes taking place between 1am and 5am.
“We genuinely value the tremendous work of all our staff and Sirona regularly tests its remuneration packages for all staff groups with the wider market and for those working in our care services, the package of pay, pension, sickness cover and annual leave is consistent with elsewhere in the sector.
“Moving from paid to unpaid breaks for those who work more than six hours is consistent with other providers and with other staff within Sirona.
“We have been clear that management and overhead costs have already been reduced; the package for senior staff within Sirona is at the lower end of the market.
“Our priority remains the safety and welfare of our residents and we are now taking steps to implement these changes to bring this difficult situation to a conclusion.”
