Stop the coalition sacking 1,500 Disabled workers ! Send a message today.

Unite the Union (and other unions such as GMB representing workers in the Remploy factories, which provide work for mostly disabled workers) are campaigning against the appalling decision by Iain Duncan Smith to shut down 54 Remploy factories and throw 1,518 staff on the dole.

Len McCluskey, Unite General Secretary, writes:

"Dear Friend,

Sacking decent workers makes no sense.

In a shameful move, the Tory Work and Pensions Minister Iain Duncan Smith is trying to shut down 54 British factories and throw 1,518 hardworking people on to benefits. Even worse, these are Remploy factories – so the workers he wants sacked are mostly disabled.

Help us keep British factories open for business and stop this government putting disabled workers on the scrap heap.

 

Click here to send a message to Iain Duncan Smith, asking him to meet with Remploy workers. It won’t take you more than a minute to do – but it’s a minute that could save the jobs of over a thousand disabled people.

 

Shutting down Remploy shows just how heartless and arrogant this government is. In fact, Iain Duncan Smith told a Remploy worker to her face that he wanted to make her unemployed so he could give someone else a “proper job”. 

 

This is unjustified and nasty. As a union official I had responsibility for Remploy’s workers and I know firsthand that they absolutely do “proper jobs”. Remploy is a brilliant testimony to the British manufacturing industry and it provides real work for disabled people in this country – and we should be proud of it. 

 

I know too that Remploy is much more than a workplace to its staff. Steve Collins, a worker in North Staffs factory, told us that his job at Remploy "saved his life", offering him somewhere he can earn a dignified living, after years of bullying in mainstream employment. This is what Remploy means to its workers – and why we can’t just let it be destroyed.

 

Tell Iain Duncan Smith what you think of his decision to throw 1,518 hardworking disabled people on the scrap heap. Ask him now to save British factories and jobs.

 

Closing down our factories and forcing people on to benefits makes no economic sense at a time when more than two million people in this country are out of work.

 

With the full force of our members’ voices, we can put enough pressure on the government to save Remploy. Thank you for standing up for these workers."

 

Standing up for Jobs and Education

NUT and NASUWT members took solidly-supported strike action over proposed job cuts at Sussex Downs College last week.

While the Unions welcome progress that has been made through negotiations with SDC management to reduce the number of redundancies, members still face significant cuts in hours.

The unions warn that cuts may lead to increased workload for  members, higher class sizes and less teaching time for students. They are bad for NUT and NASUWT members and bad for education.

Division Secretary of the East Sussex NUT, Dave Brinson explained:

"We are calling on SDC management to take urgent further action to avoid job reductions and losses. However we recognise that significant blame lies with recent savage Government policy towards post-16 education:

·         Independent research published recently (by the Institute for Fiscal Studies) has provided details of the impact of the cuts on the post-16 sector.  Sixth form funding will be cut by 17.6 per cent in real terms over the period to 2014.

·         The Government’s cuts come at a time when the increase in the education participation age to 18 will put additional pressure on individual colleges.  The increase in the participation age must be fully funded – instead the Government is cutting 16-19 funding in an attempt to implement increased participation on the cheap !

·         The abolition of the EMA has affected student numbers, as it has deterred many potential students from lower-income backgrounds"

The strike mainly involved teachers at the former Park College, where most staff were NUT and NASUWT members. The rest of Sussex Downs College is organised by the UCU Lecturers union, who are also in dispute with the college over cuts, but did not take strike action this week.

Eastbourne striking for Fair Pensions

Workers in Eastbourne will be taking strike action in defence of their pensions this Thursday.

Across the public sector schemes, the Government is demanding that front line staff work longer (to 68), pay more (a 50% increase in pension contributions), and get less through “career averaged” schemes, linked to the inferior CPI measure of inflation.

In Eastbourne, the PCS Civil Servants' union will be mounting a picket line at the DWP Job Centre Plus in St Anne’s Road, and members will also be taking action at other civil service sites in the town. They will be joined by Unite the Union members in the NHS, and by the UCU lecturers’ union at Sussex Downs College.

Members of the striking unions will be marching and rallying- with a demonstration in Brighton, and, nearest to Eastbourne, a march from Hastings Pier at 11.00am, organised by our brothers and sisters in the Hastings Trades Council.

Colleagues in the Police Federation, the Prison Officers' Union POA and the National Association of Probation Officers will be staging a national demonstration over pensions on the same day.

Teachers in NUT and NASUWT remain in dispute with the Government over pensions. The NASUWT has a current "work to contract" action in schools, and both Unions are expected to announce dates for strike action imminently.

 The PCS union explains the reasons for the strike:-

"The government want PCS members to:

·         Pay more – Extra pension contributions have been imposed for most civil servants –with further increases planned for the next two years.

·         Work longer – Civil service retirement is now linked to the state pension age – that’s already rising to 68 and the government says it will get higher.

·         Get less – Changes to indexation from RPI to the lower CPI inflation mean pensions fall by 15 to 20%.

And a two-year pay freeze is to be followed by 1% rises. New regional pay plans mean that everyone outside London might face further cuts.

We can’t afford not to.

Civil servants and other public sector workers are uniting to defend everything we have worked for. The government is:

·         Making civil servants pay up to three times as much for smaller pensions after working up to eight more years – or even longer.

·         Freezing wages while prices are soaring

The latest scheme is regional pay – which would mean wage cuts for everyone outside London. The strike is your chance to take a stand with colleagues from across government departments and with other trade unions across the public services.We are demanding real negotiations with the government, not imposed cuts.

Who else is involved?

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers across the civil service, the health service and education will be joining the 10 May walkout."

You can find out more from PCS about the strike by clicking here

You can find more from lecturers' union UCU by clicking here

You can find out more about the Unite the Union health action by clicking here.