Oi! What about the (social) workers?

It was good to see an ad in today's Metro from UNISON defending social workers engaged in child protection work.

The nearest I ever want to get to child protection is stopping my two (wonderful) children from squabbling!

Just like most of you reading this blog I would not want to be a social worker with responsibilities for child protection and (as the proud son and nephew of social workers) I am lost in admiration for those who will take that responsibility on.

In twenty years and more of trade union activity I have too often seen scapegoating of social workers. I have also seen that our trade union is the only defence a social worker has.

The answer is not - as Madeline Bunting rightly points out in today's Grauniad - more form filling and question answering.

The answer is that we should value people prepared to do an awful job in difficult circumstances - and that we need to rebuild the trade union organisation that once made social workers a force to be reckoned with in the workplace!