At the Comprehensive Spending Review the Government announced its intention to withdraw the Coach Concessionary Travel scheme from the end of October this year. (The equivalent scheme in Scotland - which provides free, not half price coach travel, will remain.) The scheme provides half price coach travel for disabled people and those over 60 within England and Wales.
Trade Unionists are concerned that the extra cost now involved in coach travel will deter people from travelling. The reduction in passengers could trigger the removal of local coach services and the opportunity to travel from a small community and visit friends / family will be removed.
TSSA delegate to Eastbourne Trades Council, Michael Litchfield has been lobbying Stephen Lloyd MP, urging him to encourage the Department of Transport to work with the coach industry to fully understand and reduce the impact the removal of the Coach Concessionary Travel scheme will have on the elderly, disabled and small communities. Local Trade Unionists are encouraged to add their voices to the campaign. You can download a model letter by clicking here.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Bombardier: The Impact in East Sussex
We now know the full impact of the Government's disastrous decision to award the contract for building the new fleet of Thameslink Trains to Siemens in Germany, instead of the UK Bombardier plant, potentially spelling the end of train manufacturing in Britain.
Tens of thousands of supply chain jobs in nearly every constituency in the country will be affected. According to research from the RMT Union, East Sussex firms in the Bombardier supply chain include:
Longsite Management and Logistics of East Dean, Tuthill Controls Group in Hailsham Southdowns Environmental Consultants in Lewes, and Deutche UK in Hastings.
On top of the thousands of job losses we now know that that nearly 250 apprenticeships and engineering jobs for new graduates from the Bombardier “Centre of Excellence” will be lost if the government fails to reverse the decision to send the Thameslink fleet contract overseas. With nearly a million young people out of work, kicking the legs from under a skills and training Centre of Excellence is a further major blow to youth employment.
We have also learnt from parliamentary answers that more accountants than engineers advised the Government on the contract. Of the nine government officials involved in the project only two had an engineering background.
It was also shown that the government spent ten times as much for advice from lawyers and accountants than engineers. It is shameful that the procurement exercise has been dominated by accountants and management consultants on fat fees while the skills , and engineering excellence of Bombardier at Derby has been totally ignored.
Please support the Parliamentary Rally and briefing to save Bombardier jobs on Wednesday 12th October, 12.30pm, at Committee Room 10, House of Commons, London.
Tens of thousands of supply chain jobs in nearly every constituency in the country will be affected. According to research from the RMT Union, East Sussex firms in the Bombardier supply chain include:
Longsite Management and Logistics of East Dean, Tuthill Controls Group in Hailsham Southdowns Environmental Consultants in Lewes, and Deutche UK in Hastings.
On top of the thousands of job losses we now know that that nearly 250 apprenticeships and engineering jobs for new graduates from the Bombardier “Centre of Excellence” will be lost if the government fails to reverse the decision to send the Thameslink fleet contract overseas. With nearly a million young people out of work, kicking the legs from under a skills and training Centre of Excellence is a further major blow to youth employment.
We have also learnt from parliamentary answers that more accountants than engineers advised the Government on the contract. Of the nine government officials involved in the project only two had an engineering background.
It was also shown that the government spent ten times as much for advice from lawyers and accountants than engineers. It is shameful that the procurement exercise has been dominated by accountants and management consultants on fat fees while the skills , and engineering excellence of Bombardier at Derby has been totally ignored.
Please support the Parliamentary Rally and briefing to save Bombardier jobs on Wednesday 12th October, 12.30pm, at Committee Room 10, House of Commons, London.
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