Glasgow Case Study
The Herald published this powerful case study yesterday on what it feels like to be an undervalued Home Care worker in Glasgow.
As Frances Stojilkovic says, no disrespect to the City Council's male workers, but how can a gravedigger, gardener or refuse worker - be worth so much more than vital, front-line care staff?
Which is what A4ES has been saying for years and now Scotland's Court of Session, the highest civil court in the land, seems to agree.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/15483104.Why_low_paid_women_workers_feel_home_caring_undervalued/
Why low-paid women workers feel home caring undervalued
By David Leask - The Herald
A carer
Worthless. That is how Frances Stojilkovic’s wages make her feel. “The way we are paid shows that what we do is not valued,” the home carer explains. “Yet we do something that is helps people. We go to people’s homes and we get them dressed and fed and we keep them independence. “We care for them and we have a bond with them, with clients we have worked with for years. We feel like family.
“So when we earn less than, say, a gravedigger, it makes us think that caring is worthless.”
Ms Stojilkovic has changed job slightly, she is now a co-ordinator for home care after 13 years as a carer. She earns £19,000 a year. Colleagues collecting bins get much more.
Campaigners believe carers, including Ms Stojilkovic’s daughter Michelle Symington, get £3 less an hour on average than men in equivalent jobs.
She sees the court victory as a vindication of her work. She said: “Home Carers in Glasgow are all over the moon because we’ve finally got the recognition our jobs deserve, after being so badly undervalued and underpaid for all this time.
“It’s just such a pity we’ve had to fight the City Council for so long to get justice via the courts, but without Action 4 Equality Scotland and organiser Mark Irvine’s support we would never have won our case. “
Ms Stojikovic has personally lobbied the new SNP leaders in Glasgow and run a Facebook page to update thousands of staff on the case.
She bears no ill will to the men, such as gravediggers, who earned more than her for years. “No disrespect to them,” she said, “but we carers are dealing with people’s lives. If it was not for carers, our clients would be in homes and costing the state more.
“Our campaign is about showing that caring is important and making sure future generations get paid fairly and know that what they do is important.”
