Council accused of 'cheating' sick workers

Shropshire council has been accused by UNISON of 'cheating' workers out of their sick pay and increasing pressure on workers to turn in when ill. The public sector union said it believes sick pay changes forced through by the council combined with 'the fear of being sacked or earmarked for redundancy could lead to more employees continuing to work or returning to work while still feeling sick - a concept known as 'presenteeism'.' The union said changes introduced by the council last October in a bid to cut costs had left workers in a far worse position without delivering the anticipated savings. Last year, the union agreed to end its dispute on the changes because it was promised a binding review. Alan James, branch secretary at Shropshire UNISON, said: 'The reason we ended the dispute in the first place was because we were promised this review would be carried out and the results abided by. We feel cheated and absolutely furious after going along with it, for them to discard it.' He warned that industrial action was an option. According to UNISON: 'Although everyone would like to see reduced absence from work the best way to achieve this is to tackle the underlying causes of ill health in the workplace, not by forcing employees to continue to work or return to work while still feeling sick. This can result in reduced productivity among people who come to work and are not fully engaged or perform at lower levels as a result of ill-health. It can also actually increase sickness absence in the long term.'

UNISON news release and guide, Making us better - sickness absence agreement: a guide for branches and safety representatives.