Agenda item

Deputation from Unison in relation to Item 10

Unison, represented by Sean Fox, welcomed Item 10, the Award of Contract for Home Support and Reablement Bundled Hours, which would see care workers become recipients of the London Living Wage (LLW).

The deputation welcomed this report, which ended an historic campaign that began in 2016 when Unison became aware of the poor hourly rates paid to care workers. Unison had sought to challenge this matter through the legal system but recognised that the most effective way to achieve the desired outcome was to work with the Council in bringing about change. The deputation praised the report and noted it would benefit over 800 care workers. They  felt that the report dealt once and for all with zero-hour contracts and responded to the unacceptable treatment of care workers. The report would allow those who provided care, many working in the borough, with a better quality of life.

Unison was proud to have worked with the Council and Officers in achieving this milestone and looked forward to working with the Council, moving forward, to ensure that the care workers were paid the LLW.

The Leader thanked the deputation and invited the Cabinet Member for Adults and Health to provide a response.

The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health thanked the deputation, paying special thanks to Sean Fox and other Unison colleagues for their positive approach in negotiating with the Council on this matter. Their constructive contributions allowed for the progress towards achieving payment of London Living Wage to those providing home support.

The Cabinet Member was delighted to be introducing London Living Wage for care workers in Haringey and recognised that this had been long overdue. This commitment was in the Labour Manifesto which stated the Council would achieve LLW for all care workers in Haringey by 2022. The Cabinet Member was pleased this was being progressed in 2020 and highlighted this decision would make a significant difference in quality of care, providing a more stable workforce.

Deputation in relation to item 11 - Climate Change Action Plan

The Leader invited representatives of Haringey Climate Forum, Helen Mayer and Ahmad from Woodside School to put forward their representations concerning item 11.

Ms Mayer began by acknowledging the proud history of the Council for responding to climate issues with early plans for reducing CO2 emissions, and the Pension’s Committee decisions on di-vesment in companies producing fossil fuels. Haringey Climate Forum would be discussing the actions contained in the attached plan more fully at their Forum meeting next week and would provide detailed comments to the Cabinet Members individually. The deputation emphasised  that the Council would need to amplify the messages in the action plan to the wider community and they  would,  as a group, support the report which needed  the commitment and support of every department and service in the whole Council for delivering the required actions.

Although some actions seemed controversial, to take these forward required winning support on local neighbourhood issues such as air quality . The group welcomed the emphasis on consultation, which needed to start now. The deputation commented that the process for starting the consultation needed to be made clearer in the action section.

The Forum recognised the need for the community to support this action plan and pledged to build this support.

Ahmad addressed the Committee, underlining that the Council had declared a climate emergency last year and in his view had not seemed to take action since this date. He urged the Council to start delivering on commitments before it was too late. He spoke of the recent storms as examples of natural disasters with people suffering loss of homes and there was likely more similar incidents to come. He highlighted that climate change destroys small islands and in his view the Council and wider politicians seemed blinded to the real impacts of climate change. He recognised that efforts were being made but speaking on behalf of his generation, he emphasised the need for urgent action, moving to 100% renewable electricity, pension fund divesting further in fossil fuels and investing higher resources in renewable energy infrastructure to help the planet. This was a serious situation which required urgent attention.

Deputation 2 - Extinction Rebellion

Billie from Extinction Rebellion, Muswell Hill addressed the meeting and thanked the Cabinet for the opportunity to attend the meeting. She emphasised the existential threat to the population of climate change and the urgency to address this issue, including it at all communication levels. Extinction Rebellion supported positive engagements and local collaboration to have localised solutions.

The deputation had considered the Climate Change Action Plan and felt strongly that, overall, it needed to be more ambitious with time frames with actions having effect by 2030 rather than 2041 as this was too late. The current plan did not reflect that this situation was an emergency and there was a need to make demands more explicitly and work with other boroughs. The action plan would need to prioritise safety and this would also help residents feel ready to support this. The deputation expressed the need for more boldness and urgency and that climate change be given the same level of attention and focus as the coronavirus. The deputation urged the Council to show leadership on the climate change crisis and called on councillors to join Extinction Rebellion on a rally being taken forward on budget day to lobby the government for more resources for climate change. There was a need for transparency and this was the most important document for the Council to produce and to act on with urgency.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Families welcomed the critique provided of the action plan and invited the deputations written comments to be circulated to Cabinet Members.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Sustainability responded to the deputations, thanking the presenters for their frank representations and emphasising that the reason for having a draft plan at this stage was to promote engagement and conversations on the actions needed to tackle climate change. The Cabinet Member underlined the intention of the Council to engage with people and climate change groups continuously, to compile the final action plan.

The Cabinet Member highlighted the Council was already doing to tackle climate change such as the new energy infrastructure, changes in transport priorities, and connecting the use of the private car as an anti-social act. It was important to review the way the Council and residents used the highways and this would be challenging as the Council did not have control of this process but would nonetheless work with the deputations on this issue.

There was a summer of engagement planned and the Council looked forward to hearing from the groups represented by the deputations and would be revising the plan accordingly. The Council were fully committed to having a plan and happy to share platforms. It was important to note that the Council alone can only fully deliver 8% of the required reduction in carbon emissions and would need to work with borough stakeholders and partners to deliver the rest. The Cabinet Member added that 50% carbon emissions in the borough come from housing and there was a need to involve stakeholders in plans to reduce emissions. There was already a website to provide information on how to reduce carbon emissions for residents.

The Cabinet Member reiterated that the Council has a strong planning policy and there was a need to account for 10 years of the austerity and the election result was not useful for the climate change movement. All groups were invited to work with the Council and the Cabinet Member thanked the groups for their work so far on this important issue.