Here is some background and explanations that everyone should know, copied from Barnet Unison's website: In the local press the YCB chief executive said “The rates of pay for Adult Social Care are a national issue”,  Yes we agree There is a national social care crisis AND Doncaster Care UK dispute is evidence of this BUT there is a local crisis in relation to how care workers are treated. To those who want to know what has driven care workers

Barnet UNISON has concluded a ballot of care workers based on a slightly improved “offer” from Your Choice Barnet (YCB) following the close of negotiations in mid-July. The offer still means our members would lose 8.31% from their wages rather than 9.5%. It still represents a swingeing cut to their wages at a time when other workers up and down the country have rejected a 1% per cent pay rise. On a 73% turnout 90% voted in favour of taking action

Barnet Residents campaign for outsourced social care services provided by Your Choice Barnet to be brought back in house. The Campaign Against the Destruction of Disabled Support Services (CADDSS for short) has been set up by Barnet residents to protest against deteriorating social care provision in the London Borough of Barnet. At the moment CADDSS is focusing on the plight of severely disabled adults facing drastic changes to their social care,

Around 50 people met at the Greek Cypriot Centre on 11th April 2013 to launch a campaign calling on Barnet Council to bring 'Your Choice Barnet' back in-house. 'Your Choice Barnet' (YCB) delivers care and support services to disabled adults in Barnet and has been 'arms length' from the Council since February 2012. The Council hoped that the service would make a surplus - £263,000 by 2015 and £493,000 by 2016 - but instead it has been losing money.

Barnet Council is trying to justify the One Barnet programme by saying that, on the current trajectory, the whole of the council budget will soon be spent on adult and children's social care. To back up this alarming - and alarmist - scenario they produced a so-called 'Graph of Doom', which has been widely reported in the press. John Dix - aka Barnet blogger 'Mr Reasonable' - has analysed the 'graph of doom' and criticises it in this document. The

By Barnet Unison What is a Joint Venture? A joint venture is usually a company that is part owned by the council and part by a private contractor. There are different kinds of company that can be used for a joint venture but the most common are where each party invests, i.e. takes shares in the company, or where each party guarantees the company’s liabilities up to a fixed amount. These types of company are known respectively as Company Limited

100 days before the signing of the first "One Barnet" contract (£750 million), Barnet residents need to read this, a list of 100 reasons why "One Barnet" is high risk and bad for residents and services. All of the reports presented here were offered to the Barnet Council Leader, to the Chief Executive and to senior officers, and were sent to all of the councillors over the past few years. Sadly, to date the council has refused to engage in a discussion

Barnet Unison members will strike this Thursday 9 February. Please visit them to lend support on their pickets at North London Business Park and Mill Hill depot, from 7-10am. The strikers are then going to do some community work in the borough, among other activities... Visit the union's website here. Send messages of support to [email protected] and follow the branch on Twitter: @barnet_unison The union members involved are those working

Defend Our Pensions! - A joint public meeting of Barnet Alliance and Barnet TUC The government's pension proposals will leave public workers paying more, working for longer, getting less in retirement. This government's pension plan is less about saving money, but rather to make privatisation more profitable for the private bidders. The reform, says public sector outsourcing specialists Lane Clark & Peacock, would lead to “more opportunities

Update, Monday 12 September Because Barnet council have decided not to admit Unison members taking a half-day strike tomorrow onto the premises, picket lines are from 7-10am at the Oakleigh Road North and Brunswick Park entrances to the North London Business Park. Barnet Alliance will be supporting the Unison members from early in the morning, and at the rally outside Hendon Town Hall, 5.30-7pm. Background Around 400 Barnet council staff, members