In the face of the raging crisis in social care, the labour movement must fight for full public ownership of the sector – both care homes and organisations providing home care – and massively improved funding, standards, workers’ rights and union organisation. If now is not the time to launch a serious campaign for this, when on earth is?
As the CWU’s Maria Exall put it in her recent interview with us: “The big challenge is not to go for the lowest common denominator but be far more ambitious … It’s obvious what the problems are, but the question is can the labour movement take the initiative with radical solutions? … The care sector highlights the problems we face, unable to deliver decent standards for the people it looks after or for the huge number of workers it employs. If we don’t campaign for public ownership and strict standards across the sector we are simply not rising to the challenge.”
Some hopefully useful reading and resources (where another site not specified, on The Clarion):
• Model motion for labour movement organisations (and call from Momentum Stevenage to support)
• Reclaim Social Care campaign
• Safe and Equal campaign for the right to self-isolate on full pay (and Facebook page)
• Care Worker Coronavirus Action Group
• Crisis in social care: fight for public ownership (Workers’ Liberty, 2020, explaining how the organisation of the sector relates to the spread of Covid-19; with extensive links to other sources and to social care campaigns, unions and initiatives)
• Policy passed at Labour conference 2019 (see pp19-20)
• Social care must be insourced too (Malcolm Hunter, 2019)
• We need a publicly owned care service (We Own It, 2019)
• Social care: only public will do! (Care worker Rohan Fernando replies to Navendu Mishra, 2018)
• Social care crisis: for a Labour campaign for public ownership! (2016)
Let us know what you think? Write a reply? theclarionmag@gmail.com