06/08/2012

Care Home Strike Enters Second Month

Staff at one of Northern Ireland's main children's care homes are striking for a second month over a new shift pattern.

13 night shift supervisors at Lakewood Regional Secure Centre in Bangor said the new rota requires staff to work fewer hours per shift and come in on an extra 36 days per year.

They also said they would have to work more weekends, but their main concern was that the 30 vulnerable young people living in the home would have less continuity.

The South Eastern Health Trust said it had put forward a compromise which had been rejected by the union NIPSA.

The Voice of Young People in Care represents the children at the centre.

Its chief executive Vivian McConvey called for an end to the dispute.

She said: "My priority is the health and well-being of the children and young people being cared for away from home and in the care of the trust.

"This picket is taking place at a children's home which should not be the focus of any industrial dispute.

"This is a children's home and the young people living there should enjoy the same privacy and sense of security as any of us in our own homes.

"We hope that there will be an immediate end to the picket and a swift resolution to the dispute.

The trust said: "Our first and paramount concern remains the safety and well-being of the young people in our care".

(NE)

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