Dumbarton Notebook by Bill Heaney
West Dunbartonshire’s crackpot council is facing industrial action over their plans to introduce a new work schedule for care workers.
These workers do a vital job giving free personal care to sick, elderly, disabled and even terminally ill people, saving the NHS thousands of pounds every day by looking after people who would otherwise have to be in hospital at a cost of £600 a night.
They are a dedicated bunch of mostly middle-aged women who are amongst the lowest paid council workers – one of them sadly died during the covid pandemic – and there is a memorial for her placed by her colleagues and her trade union in Levengrove Park, Dumbarton.
These caring women, many of them mothers and grannies, become close friends of their “clients” and their families and establish long-term relationships which see them turning up for work five days a week from 8 o’clock in the morning.
Carers are on a very low rung on the ladder of health worker staffing but by coincidence the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland has warned that workforce wellbeing in Scotland’s NHS is at a crisis point.
The Labour administration, whose remit runs via the Health and Social Care Committee at the heavily criticised council, have no idea how to run a local authority and have decided to change the carers’ work schedule with little or no consultation.
The HSCC committee is the one responsible for taking over the popular Levengrove Pavilion cafe which they ran into the ground before being forced to let it to a private person. They couldn’t spell Pavilion when they put up the signs and stubbornly refused to be corrected.
They are about to add to the series of disastrous decisions that include their detested budget cuts to grass cutting, refuse collection, damp social housing, litter strewn, pot-holed, flash-flooded streets, sewage polluted rivers and lochs and fly-tipping.
For water and sewage responsibilities, of which there is widespread neglect, residents pay extra on their council tax.
Staff recruitment is woeful due to the council’s reputation for incompetence and bullying – a cost business costing hundreds of thousands of pounds when it comes to compensating their victims.
Staff recruitment is at a low ebb. I am told by one employee that WDC pay temporary social workers £70,000 per annum which is £20,000 more than the going rate – plus an agency fee.
Some temporary social workers have been employed by the council for more than two years and most of those who come in to Dumbarton and Clydebank are retirees from Glasgow City Council who have left with golden handshakes.
Councillors and officials turn up their noses at offers of free job recruitment adverts in The Dumbarton Democrat, the only locally owned and edited local news outlet and refuse to be held to account by the press and public who vote them into their highly salaried positions.
But it is the carers who will be in the eye of the storm that is local government in Scotland in the run-up to the implementation of their new work schedule on March 2, which is also International Women’s Day when women traditionally demonstrate their worth.
And they are praying for a change of heart by the council and the trade unions, who are supposed to be supporting them but appear to be dragging their heels, and have become involved in a bitter war with highly paid officials some of whom “earn” six figures salaries.
Councillors, who are expected to be “giving something back” to their communities, are these days drawing down attractive wages for the little they do. They have just received a 20 per cent pay rise.
The LibDems in the Scottish Parliament are advocating a well deserved £2 an hour rise for carers employed in the public sector.
It’s a shame they are not standing for election in the Dumbarton constituency on May 7, where Nigel Farage’s UK Reform party could make a serious dent in the long-term Labour-held seat.
Especially given the fact that at UK level Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the U-turn politician, is the most unpopular occupant of 10 Downing Street ever.
Meanwhile, here is our report of the death of the Catherine Sweeney, the Dumbarton care worker who died after contracting coronavirus.
Catherine Sweeney, pictured above, died in the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
Earlier, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon praised the “courage” of frontline staff battling Covid-19.
Ms Sweeney was born and raised in Dumbarton and was well-known in the local community.
‘Caring and generous’
In a statement her family remembered a “wonderful mother, sister, and beloved aunty”.
They also thanked the doctors and nurses at the RAH who “heroically looked after her in her final days”.
The statement continued: “She was a caring and generous person, especially when it came to her time, having dedicated over 20 years of her life as a home carer to unfailing serving the needs of the most vulnerable in society.
“After a lifetime of service to the community, we know she will be sorely missed, not just by her loving family, but by many others for her incredible warmth, care, and dedication.
“A whole community shares in our grief.”
‘Considerable debt’
The first minister announced the “very sad news” at the start of her daily press briefing.
Ms Sturgeon added: “I want to take the opportunity to convey my thoughts and condolences to their loved ones.
“The death is a reminder that people working in our health and care services are not only showing immense dedication and expertise, they are displaying great courage.
“I’m sure everyone in Scotland once again is reflecting on the considerable debt we owe each and every one of them.”