Eastbourne Trades Council wins TUC media Award

It was a proud week for Eastbourne Trades Council, as we won the Media/Campaigns award at the SERTUC regional trades councils conference.

The award recognises the work we do as a trades council, with our Workplace Newsletter which goes into nearly 150 unionised workplaces in the town, alongside additional material such as our Save the DGH leaflet, our Twitter and Facebook feeds,and, of course, this website.

You can read the latest newsletter as a jpeg file online here, and all recent back issues under the Trades Council Documents section on the left hand side of this page.

The Trades Council received a £100 prize from TUC Trades Councils organiser Tom Mellish at the Conference on Saturday.

No to closure of Dementia Wards !: Please sign

UNISON has reacted strongly to proposals advocating the closure of two highly valued local dementia wards in Uckfield and St Leonards-on-Sea.

The three Clinical Commissioning Groups covering East Sussex are currently consulting on the provision of NHS beds provided by Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust for the admission and assessment of people with dementia. Three out of their four proposals include either a bed reduction or a closure of at least one of the wards, causing grave concern to people using and providing the current service.

UNISON Sussex Partnership Branch Communications Officer Nick McMaster said :

“Closure of either Beechwood Ward in Uckfield or St Gabriels Ward in St Leonards-on-Sea is likely to mean frail patients and relatives having to travel significantly further to receive specialist inpatient care. Community dementia services are already heavily over-stretched and are unlikely to be able to provide the same level of support to patients with high care needs. Given the projected increase in dementia due to an increasingly ageing population, we are concerned that a vital public service is going to be dismantled in the chase for financial savings disguised as new models of care”

In an ideal world we would all like our loved ones to be treated at home, but what happens when people are just too poorly? With bed occupancy rates sometimes over 100% and nearly all of them being filled by East Sussex residents, proposals to close units are deeply worrying.”

UNISON members who work in the two units are planning to take their concerns to the streets in order to speak directly to the public. Nick says “The CCGs have supposedly been in ‘public consultation’ about this since August, although they are only allowing comments online or in writing. We are not afraid to go to the public and intend to engage them in real conversation”.

 

The "consultation" closed on 25th October, but you can still sign the petition on 38 Degrees website by clicking here-  we know how important it is to keep the pressure up on NHS managers !

Probation Services: For Public Protection not Private Profit !

At 12 noon on 5th November members of the National Association of Probation Officers  will  commence strike action for 24 hours,  returning to work at 12 noon on 6th November. This action coincides with the ‘People’s Assembly’ planned day of demonstrations.

They are holding a Rally in Brighton.  This will start at 2:30 at Brighton Railway Station and will then make its way to Brighton Pavilions via Probation Headquarters. (Trafalgar Street) Please do your best to come along and join the Napo Rally-  all trade unionists and supporters are very welcome. The following day, Wednesday 6th the strike continues up until 12:00, and NAPO are picketing as many offices as they can on that day.

You can find out more about NAPO's campaign against privatisation by visiting their website here.

Campaign for a Living Wage: TC Meeting 19th November

The Living Wage campaign will be the focus of the Trades Council meeting on TUESDAY 19th NOVEMBER at 7.30pm at the Unite Eastbourne Centre.

Rhys McCarthy, a Unite national officer will be our guest speaker at the meeting. Rhys was instrumental in organising workers in one of the earliest Living Wage campaigns amongst low paid workers in London's Canary Wharf, and recently organised the high profile campaign for a Living Wage for all Sainsbury's staff.

The Living Wage Campaign has enjoyed some notable successes- but many employers in Eastbourne still pay below the £7.45 that the campaign believes is the minimum for a working person to live.

The Share Action campaign (which seeks to get shareholders mobilised in pushing for a Living Wage) reports:
"In-work poverty is a growing problem in the UK and low pay is closely associated with social disadvantages including poor health, substandard housing and personal debt. Excluding young workers, amongst whom low pay is even more prevalent, 3.5 million working adults aged over 22 were earning less than £7 in 2010. Living Wage employers report a range of benefits including raised staff morale, workforce productivity and enhanced corporate reputation."

All local trade unionists are encouraged to come along- learn more about the campaign and see how you can get involved !

Solidarity with our Firefighters

Fire Brigades Union members in Eastbourne took strike action on  Friday 1 November and will do so again on Monday 4 November, as part of a  national dispute over jobs and
pensions.  

Earlier  the FBU postponed a five hour strike after the Westminster government and fire employers shifted their position and finally recognised that firefighters faced losing their jobs and a large chunk of their pensions under new changes imposed in April.

Government and employers had offered various routes to tackle the problem of firefighters not fit enough to work beyond the current retirement age of 55, but then  informed the FBU they could provide none of the guarantees necessary to address this crucial aspect of the dispute.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary said: “The FBU has been very reasonable, but we are now faced with broken promises and those in power evading their responsibilities. The Westminster government has created this mess, but it is refusing to clear it up.  It now recognises the problem, but it won’t provide the legal and financial guarantees firefighters need to ensure they have a job and an unreduced pension in the future. 

“Firefighters face the sack towards the end of their career and the loss of their pension. That can’t be right. The employers promised to tackle the issue of firefighters facing the sack for failing fitness tests last week, only to say they can’t offer any guarantees this week. That is simply not the way to run a public service."

You can read more information on the FBU dispute, including an excellent Myth Buster highlighting the truth and lies around the pensions issue, by visiting the FBU Website here.