That is why we fight for assistants’ salaries – Today’s Society

Personal assistants work makes a huge difference for a large group of people. They are professionals in their professions and delivers support and help with everything from everyday tasks to get out into the community to study, work or participate in leisure activities. It is a profession that requires a thorough knowledge of the disabled person, his illness and personal needs. Working so close to another person places high demands on integrity, responsiveness and professionalism. It is a profession that should have reasonable conditions of employment and provide a salary to live on.

this important profession has Municipal insisted on a wage increase in line with other labor, 2.2 percent, equivalent to 487 per month on an average full time. Employer’s bid stopped at a paltry 0.8 percent, or 177 per month until year-end. The motivation: they can not afford to follow the rest of the labor market.

Now trying Care Providers blame the government because the flat rate only increased by 1.4 percent per year.

Men the truth is that the lump sum was increased by 4 per hour from January 1 and wage increases that will apply from July 1 means 2.83 per hour mark followed. The industry has thus amply afford to pay wage increases in line with all the others.

The personal assistants privately subject today of much worse employment conditions than assistants who work in community care . The assistants, for example, fixed term contracts with only 14 days notice. We also need improvements in the agreement regarding salary and compensation, which today is worse than for other workers.

The to offer 0.8 percent wage increase in 2016 and the rest in 2017 first ask Care Providers in practice the personal assistants to invite employers to their rightful salary increases until the end of the year. This we can not accept. Local government therefore sees no alternative but to this day, as a first step, add redundancy hiring blockade of the companies covered by the Health Enterprises contract for personal assistance.

to the personal assistants should have the same pay increases as the rest of the labor market is not an unreasonable demand for an industry where some of the largest companies owned by international venture capitalists each year deliver profits to the owners.

What contrast is unreasonable is that employers do not realize this. Who do they want to work in such an important profession, with such great importance to vulnerable people’s quality of life and with so much responsibility, under such bad conditions? How can you recruit qualified employees for wage does not even correspond to the minimum level that applies to all others?

We understand do not care entrepreneurs’ reluctance to implement improvements in employment conditions – improvements that would mean lot for employees and cost little or nothing, for employers. This short-term personnel policies not only hurt the industry and toil of the workers, it also affects users negatively, because it leads to insecurity staff higher and staff turnover.

We hope Care Providers is serious those on its website writes that “the public and politiskta makers should perceive the private health and social care as important to society and rely on private providers deliver quality care, are good employers and contribute to the development of welfare”.

Now is up to the Care Providers to show that they account for their words. Giving the personal assistants nice / safe conditions and wage increases in line with everyone else on the labor market is a good first step.