Say NO to Fire Service Cuts: Sign the petition!

East Sussex Fire Authority are consulting with the public on plans that will decimate local Fire & Rescue Services in East Sussex.

Planned cuts include:

• Remove 10 fire engines from towns and villages across the county. Affected stations are Bexhill, Battle, Crowborough, Lewes, Newhaven, Rye, Uckfield, Seaford, Heathfield and Wadhurst.
• Cut dedicated crews for aerial appliances in Hastings.
• Cut wholetime jobs at Lewes, Newhaven, Uckfield, Crowborough, Battle and Bexhill.
• Downgrade The Ridge fire station from 24hr immediate response to only daytime immediate response.
• Cut staffing levels of wholetime firefighters at all shift stations across the county.

These will impact heavily on a critical lifesaving service. They will negatively impact public safety as well as firefighter safety and will also impede firefighter's ability to respond quickly to emergency calls. 

The FBU point out that these plans were drawn up before the Covid-19 crisis, and do not take into account the different situation we will face when lockdown is finally over.   Firefighters locally and nationally have taken on significant extra duties as part of supporting communities during the crisis. 

Ten years of austerity cuts saw 11,500 firefighter jobs lost nationally.  The service is already overstretched!

Eastbourne is represented on the East Sussex Fire Authority by Meads Tory councillor Barry Taylor, and Lib Dem Leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, David Tutt.  Shamefully both voted for the cuts package. 

Please sign the petition here, download and print the FBU's information leaflet by clicking here,   and spread the word: Fire Cuts Cost Lives!

Shearings Collapse is Massive Blow to Eastbourne

The announcement this evening of the collapse of Specialist Leisure Group Ltd. is a massive blow to Eastbourne's already vulnerable tourism and hospitality industry. 

The group includes Shearings Travel, Wallace Arnold, Coast and Country Hotels and a number of other brands.

The Bay Hotels subsidiary owned and operated the Burlington Hotel  and the Majestic Hotel on Eastbourne seafront.  Dozens of staff at these hotels will now be made redundant- some of whom have many years service.

We are not aware of any formal union recognition agreements within these hotels, but we know that a number of SLG staff are members of GMB and Unite- and they should contact their union, without delay, for support.

Information from the Receivers can be read here.

We will post more information as it becomes clear.

Covid-19 Scandal at Cavendish School

The NEU and GMB were very concerned to discover that there has been a confirmed case of Covid-19 at the Cavendish Hub where a staff member tested positive last weekend (9-10th May). The Cavendish School  Hub has had children in from Cavendish School, Stafford and Roselands ESCC schools as well as smaller numbers from other Eastbourne schools. 

East Sussex NEU Branch said:

"Thankfully we understand the member of staff is not seriously ill but the potential infection that may have taken place given the size of the hub represents a serious and imminent threat to heath.

We are particularly concerned as despite this being known by some of the senior leadership on Monday 11th May all staff and parents were not made aware until late Friday 15th May. This was only disclosed at all after the unions were informed of the case on Friday 15th May and contacted management to say we would tell staff and parents if they did not.

Allowing staff and children to attend the hub for a whole week without informing them, shutting, allowing testing to take place, and doing a full school deep clean is unacceptable. There has clearly been a series of failures here and as advice was sought by leadership from East Sussex County Council and Public health England it raises serious questions about the quality of that advice.

The NEU has met virtually with its members across Stafford, Roselands and Cavendish to give advice and discuss the situation. It is clear that there are extremely serious questions to be answered: 

• Why were all staff and parents not told of a confirmed case and what advice was given to the leadership? 
• Given the unions had already been raising concerns with ESCC that the hub was too big how will the council and school leadership respond to having potentially having Covid-19 present in a building which had up to 100 people present in it? 
• How quickly can tests be provided for all those who have been on site and families? Why was such a large hub allowed to open and what assessments of the risk were done? 
• How is a school wide deep clean on Monday 18th be sufficient response to a case identified on Monday 11th when people have been in the building all week potentially spreading the virus?
• How can a reopening of the hub on Tuesday be justified? 

Indeed, how can there be faith from school staff and parents that any East Sussex schools can open more widely from 1st June when even with limited opening an outbreak in a school has been handled so badly?   The National Education Union will be continuing to advise its members directly and will be looking for an urgent meeting with East Sussex County Council and school leaders."

You can also read the press statement from the GMB by clicking here.

May Day Greetings!

Eastbourne Trades Council proudly organises the annual May Day march and picnic  to celebrate trade unionism and working people's organisation in Eastbourne.  Sadly, the lockdown means that this year it wasn't possible to do this- but see below for a selection of pictures from the past three years.  We'll be back in 2021!