Trouble Times Outsourcing by Wigan Council

Wigan Trades Council Press Release:

‘Unison Workers at Addaction will be on the picket lines again in Wigan and Leigh this coming Wednesday 9th, Thursday 10th and Friday 11th October and Wigan Trades Council is calling upon trade unionists to show their support by visiting picket lines, inviting strikers to their meetings, and holding collections for their hardship fund.

‘The strikes this week are a significant escalation of the dispute in the face of an intransigent employer which portrays itself as a charity but behaves in a way that is anything but charitable. And the support now being shown to strikers indicates that the Trades Council is not alone in this opinion.

‘Wigan is a working-class town that as such has suffered disproportionally under the Tory and Lib Dem heel of austerity, producing a range of terrible consequences for which workers at Addaction are picking up the pieces.  Their work in the rehabilitation of adults and young people who have drug and alcohol misuse and related problems, is a vital service that was once under the NHS. Its privatisation has resulted in more pressure on workers and the service, and the going back on promises made on wages and conditions by Addaction.

‘Wigan Council commissioned Addaction to undertake work that should always have been performed by our NHS. In awarding contracts all privatised services are required to sign up to Wigan Council’s ‘Deal’. This ‘Deal’ clearly doesn’t require companies to honour agreements on pay and conditions and neither it seems does the ‘Deal’ require Addaction to honour recognition agreements with trade unions. To date, Addaction doesn’t recognise unions anywhere in the country. Clearly the ‘Deal’ is designed to benefit employers over Wigan’s labouring classes.

‘Wigan Trades Council will be supporting the strikers for as long as the dispute lasts and we will support all initiatives that give justice and respect to Addaction workers for the important and vital role they play in our communities.

‘Picket lines will be on from 8.00 am at Coops Building, Dorning Street, Wigan and Kennedy House, Brunswick Avenue, Leigh.’

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