Fellow Workers,
The care sector is one of the most precarious in the UK labour market, with employers regularly abusing migrant workers, ignoring labour rights and care regulations, and stealing wages. Care is one of the most important components in our society; yet workers in care experience some of the worst conditions.
Since November 2024, members of the Pan African Workers’ Association (PAWA) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) have been involved in a labour dispute with Apple Homecare, a company based in Norwich and headed by John and Dennis Bacon. Workers reached out to us and reported being forced to work long, back to back shifts (sometimes for 10 days in a row), being underpaid and subject to arbitrary wage deductions, not being paid on time and not being paid for overtime, and working in a wider climate of fear and intimidation. Most of these workers are migrants and are subject to visa restrictions, tying them to their employer in order to be able to remain in the country. This is something that Apple Homecare seems to be perfectly willing to exploit, and arbitrary disciplinaries seem to be part of these workers’ daily lives. Furthermore, apart from abuses in the context of work, we have seen documentation that suggests that, after firing workers, Apple Homecare is illegally asking them to repay the sponsorship fee that the company incurred when hiring them. This practice is illegal, and yet John Bacon refuses to comment on it in our attempts to ask him about it.
PAWA and the IWW supported the workers to submit a collective grievance against their working conditions. Yet, as soon as the grievance was submitted, the workers started experiencing the full force of employers’ attacks against union members. Three workers did not receive their December paycheck, and as of today (4th January), two have still not been paid despite repeated attempts by the union to speak to John Bacon and Apple Homecare. Instead of looking forward to the new year, these workers spent the festive period budgeting the last of their money to make it through. This has now led to a state of crisis. One worker needs money to keep up with bills and childcare, while the other is threatened with imminent eviction. As the situation worsens, we are forced to go public. As it has done so often in the past, the labour movement must once again pull through and show that when workers are united, we can win. In the face of the employers’ abuse against us, we must respond with solidarity.
The money raised through this fundraiser will go to the two workers to support them with immediate costs. If John Bacon and Apple Homecare do end up paying their workers, the money will go towards a fighting fund to be used to support the rest of the Norwich care workers in this struggle to improve conditions across the care sector. We appreciate your solidarity, and we hope to see you in the next stages of this campaign.
Please share and donate to the solidarity appeal here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/
An injury to one is an injury to all!
IWW WISE-RA Secretariat