{"id":10492,"date":"2016-11-08T15:27:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T15:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10492"},"modified":"2016-11-08T15:27:22","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T15:27:22","slug":"equality-watchdog-on-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10492","title":{"rendered":"Equality watchdog on strike"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Members of Unite working for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will be taking part in the first of two one-day strikes tomorrow (November 9), after talks over the implementation of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098swingeing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cuts broke down.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Unite members will be joining colleagues from the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union in the stoppage, with a further one-day strike scheduled for Wednesday, November 16. The strike action follows a mismanaged restructuring exercise with the continued threat of compulsory redundancies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Members are fearful that the cuts over the next four years will lead to less support for victims of discrimination and undermine the watchdog\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to effectively challenge hate crime at a time when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on the rise.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The 25 per cent cuts will see caseworkers and other frontline staff supporting victims of discrimination axed and the closure of the commission\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offices in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe EHRC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief executive needs to step back from the threat of compulsory redundancies and savage cuts which will force dedicated staff out of the organisation,&#8221; said Unite national officer Siobhan Endean.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese latest cuts will leave the commission toothless and unable to deliver its mandate to enforce the law and protect human rights.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe closure of offices and cutting of case workers will restrict access to support and justice for those suffering discrimination, as well as undermining the watchdog\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to take forward its work programme,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members will be striking to defend the vital services they deliver and the ability of the commission to challenge hate crime and discrimination.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There will be picket lines outside the EHRC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, London and Manchester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Members of Unite working for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will be taking part in the first of two one-day strikes tomorrow (November 9), after talks over the implementation of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098swingeing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cuts broke down. &nbsp; Unite members will be joining colleagues from the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union in the stoppage, with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[546,88],"wps_subtitle":"Unite members take a stand against 'swingeing cuts'","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10492"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10493,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10492\/revisions\/10493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}