Jewish nursing home staff preparing second round of strike action

The union representing care workers in a Jewish nursing home in Golders Green say staff are preparing to stage their second round of industrial action in a row over pay and benefits.

Frontline workers at the Sage Nursing Home, who are asking for a Living Wage of £12 per hour and sick pay in line with NHS peers, held their first three-day strike last month and plan another from Thursday.

Their trade union, United Voices of the World (UVW), is also demanding recognition, saying staff were “one step closer to achieving a collective voice”. They have also asked for improved sick pay and annual leave.

Staff including carers, cleaners and maintenance workers will walk out from Thursday until Monday, and follows the first strike, in which there was “a virtual picket” supported by up to 400 people.

Union rep Molly de Dios Fisher said Sage trustees had responded with “arrogance” but the care home’s management said it “benchmarks its rates of pay against the care home sector and believes it is in line with comparable care homes”.

They added that the extra costs imposed on the home by the pandemic meant that the union’s demands were not financially viable.