WORKERS at Scotland’s largest care provider are being forced to spend their breaks in bus shelters or wandering the streets amid changes to shift patterns, it has been claimed.

Staff at Cordia, an arm’s length firm of Glasgow City Council, have complained that the new split shift system means some carers find they have a 90-minute break between shifts often far from home with nowhere to go but supermarket car parks, bus stops or closes.

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Trade union Unison surveyed their members across 33 different areas of Glasgow and found the majority of staff did not have adequate facilities to make hot food and drinks or shelter from bad weather.

Around 95 per cent of home carers said they did not have access to a clean toilet during their breaks, while 97 per cent lacked access to drinking water, shelter from the cold and rain or facilities to prepare food.

One home carer from Maryhill said: “The nearest place I can go is the supermarket but our line managers do not want us going there. 
“It’s the nearest place to my area where I can have use of a toilet. 
“My break is in the evening between 7 and 8 pm so it’s dark and in this weather it’s not ideal.” 

A home carer from Royston said: “[I have] nowhere to go mornings or night.
“If [it is]wet I stand at the bottom of multi-storey flats.”   

The union says it is unfair to expect staff to pay for transport home, or to pay to use cafes in order to have somewhere to keep warm.  It is now calling for Cordia to take action and work with them to find a solution.

Sam Macartney, Glasgow Unison branch officer, said the new shifts undermined health and safety at work but also challenged the onus on employers to provide “dignity at work”.

And he has written to Cordia urging them to work with the union to help resolve the problems identified.

“These staff provide an essential service for vulnerable people in our communities and deserve to be treated with respect,” he said.
“A toilet, drinking water and a warm place to sit and eat on breaks is not unreasonable.”

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Andy Clark, Cordia director of services, said it was “disappointing” the union had elected to raise the shift pattern concerns in the media rather than their regular forum with union leaders.

“Cordia is committed to the welfare of our staff, and we are happy to meet with Unison to find appropriate solutions,” he said.

“I can tell you at this stage that we do have seven home care bases with toilets and facilities to make a hot drink. 

“These are in Drumchapel, Whiteinch, Petershill, Templeton at Glasgow Green, Baillieston, Portman Street at Paisley Road Toll and in Castlemilk.
“These are open until 10pm, long after the end of the last breaks. For staff not within easy reach of these bases, we will seek to find alternatives.”
In February it was reported that Cordia had overspent by almost 
£3 million, according to the council figures.

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Finance chiefs have put the problems down to higher staff absence levels, fixed fees for homecare services and staff pay awards, and said the high absence levels were related to the workforce reforms introduced by the company last year.