Simon Knighton, chairman of Sirona care & health, issued a statement following a release by Unison which claimed a director was earning more than the Prime Minister.
The union is in dispute with Sirona around moving staff working at residential homes and Extra Care facilities in Bath, Keynsham and Midsomer Norton from paid to unpaid breaks when they work more than six hours which is consistent with other providers in the sector and with other staff within Sirona.
The not-for-profit social enterprise is now covering a series of 25 consecutive walk-outs in an escalation of the action which began in June; it includes a series of middle-of-the-night strikes taking place between 1am and 5am as well as 24 hour and 12 hour disruption.
Simon said: “I am appalled that a trade dispute has resulted in personal attacks on my directors which are unfair and inaccurate. This is an unpleasant tactic distracting from the many efforts we have made to resolve the industrial action which have included offering substantial one-off payments to staff to recognise the impact this would have for some of them. All of these offers have been rejected.
“Instead of trying to work with us to find a solution, the union is focussing on issuing inaccurate information which isn’t beneficial to their members, our staff or our service users.
“Our directors lead an organisation of 1193 staff with an annual turnover of over £65m. Together with my Non-Executive Directors I regularly review their pay and benefits and I can assure everyone that they sit in the lowest 25% of salaries for comparable organisations. The figures shown in our annual accounts include salary, employers’ costs such as the national insurance payments we need to make and the pension contribution made by Sirona which Unison is claiming are on top of the wrongly quoted figure.
“My team could earn significantly more in the private sector but have chosen to work for Sirona and dedicate themselves to public service. I am not prepared to stand back and watch them undeservedly vilified when I know just how hard they work for the communities Sirona serves.
“I would urge the Union to spend their energies working with us to find a resolution.”
