RESIDENTS and volunteer carers at a community for learning disabled adults have signed up with a union in order to have their voices heard in a dispute over their way of life.

About 70 co-workers and residents at Botton, in Danby Dale, North Yorkshire, have formed a community branch of Unite and say they are planning with other union activists to raise the profile of their struggle against proposed changes to the use of the volunteer co-workers in the village.

A spokesman said they were unionising to fight for the right to keep doing meaningful work and have a family life.

He claimed the charity which runs the village, the Camphill Village Trust (CVT), was trying to alter long-established shared living arrangement in residents’ homes and also to make major changes in their workshops.

CVT told residents and co-workers last year that it would be changing the volunteer-led care and house-share routine with paid staff following tax advice.

The charity said although it would mean co-workers would have employment contracts, the community would be largely unaffected.

But residents and co-workers fear this would mean the end to their unique way of living and working side-by-side.

Eddie Thornton, a former employee of the charity who resigned to become a co-worker, said: “The residents have been silenced by their charity and let down by their local authority.

“We hope that by joining a union with a million members that their voices will be amplified to a level that no one can ignore.”

Huw John, chief executive of the Camphill Village Trust, said: “The charity recognises that this is not a conventional union membership; instead it is a community branch.

"We look forward to Unite contacting the charity to ensure they hear a balanced view of the issues at Botton village.

“We’re also somewhat confused by these latest claims from co-workers and campaigners, as at the High Court in London, co-workers asked to make an agreement with the charity that they would be treated as employees and provide the support funded by local authorities.

“There is no plan or intention to shut the workshops down – they have a key role to play in the future of Botton."

John Coan from Unite said: “Unite Community is proud that we have constituted a union branch in Botton. Their ethos of cooperation and community fits exactly with what we are about, and we are offering the residents and their co-workers solidarity in their struggle.”