Alternative Futures Group (AFG) have now announced exactly what the new terms and conditions it is imposing on its staff will look like. Three different sets of terms and conditions are to be introduced, each with different levels of pay cuts. The hardest hit (as ever) will be casual staff, who will see a 6.45% pay cut, with bank holiday enhancement reduced from double time to time and a half. By the 8th of March new contracts will be issued and support workers will be told to sign them or be dismissed.
Support workers can still fight back:
- Do not sign new contracts, if we refuse to sign in large enough numbers, AFG will have no choice but to back down and negotiate
- Vote yes on strike action, Unison have sent out ballots to members, remember that AFG have no right to know whether or not you are a union member in the event of a strike, you cannot be forced to cross a picket line.
- Talk to your fellow support workers about the pay cuts. Set up meetings away from work with other staff teams to organise and share information
- Contact local and national press to let them know that a company that claims to care is attacking the terms and conditions of one of the most underpaid and overworked groups of workers in the country
- Take action on the job. Direct action tactics, such as work to rule and sick outs, will put further pressure on AFG
- Get in touch with us via e-mail (socialcaretalk@gmail.com) or on twitter (@carerstalk) and let us know what’s going on in your staff team
- Don’t panic! Much as they may like to pretend otherwise, AFG’s management are neither all knowing nor all powerful
Recently, some of the largest construction firms in the UK were forced to back down from a massive 35% pay cut for electricians by a campaign of refusal to sign new contracts, protests and direct action on the job. AFG are no Balfour Beatty, if we have the will to fight back, we can win.
This text is available as an A4 leaflet: https://p.twimg.com/AmXsJMWCMAADRgp.jpg
Carers Talk 
Why is it that unison are telling us that we don’t have a leg to stand on and that AFG have the law on their side. We as TUPE staff do not want to take reductions in pay and lose our terms and conditions but UNISON are NOT representing us fairly.
we need a unison rep that isnt paid by afg to represent us…one who will fight for our rights
Afgs proposal 2 for tupe staff is a pay masacre not a cut.A 40% cut in pay and conditions. People will loose their homes.I am prepaired to fight this all the way.
I am AFG casual staff and this is the first I have heard about 6.45 pay cut and bank holiday pay cut as no one has informed me. Its us casual staff that they ring at the last minute to cover sickness, usually unsociable hours that no one else wants to do. I have bent over backwards to help out when they have been struggling for staff and this is how they show their appreciation. Well I wont be signing my new contract.
Deborah, have you not recieved any letters or anything like that about this? That’s pretty appalling, not to mention possibly unlawful, to my understanding.
AFG have a statutory obligation to meaningfully consult with affected workers about new contracts. If they’re failing to do this properly for some (or even all) casual workers, that needs to be brought to everybody’s attention. I’ll try and find out more about this, any detail about what sorts of communication you’ve recieved from AFG or what you’ve been told would be enormously helpful, e-mail at socialcaretalk@googlemail.com if you’d rather not talk about this publically.