Raising the bar? The impact of the UNISON ethical care campaign in UK domiciliary care

Mathew Johnson, Jill Rubery and Matthew Egan
Additional contact information
Mathew Johnson: 66058University of Manchester, UK
Jill Rubery: 66058University of Manchester, UK
Matthew Egan: 65826UNISON, UK

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 2021, vol. 27, issue 3, 367-382

Abstract: This article critically analyses a major trade union initiative in the United Kingdom to raise standards in public contracts for domiciliary care, and in turn to improve wages and working conditions for outsourced care workers. The campaign successfully built alliances with national employer representatives, and around 25 per cent of commissioning bodies in England, Scotland and Wales have signed a voluntary charter that guarantees workers an hourly living wage, payment for travel time and regular working hours. The campaign overall, however, has had only limited effects on standards across the sector, in which low wages, zero-hours contracts and weak career paths predominate. Furthermore, the campaign has not yet yielded significant gains in terms of union recruitment, although there are signs of sporadic mobilisations of care workers in response to localised disputes.

Keywords: Domiciliary care; living wages; precarious work; public procurement; trade unions; worker mobilisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:treure:v:27:y:2021:i:3:p:367-382

DOI: 10.1177/10242589211028460

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