Eastbourne TUC Says: Congratulations Amy!

Amy Murphy, secretary of Usdaw in Sussex, has been elected as the Union’s new national president.

Trades Council secretary, Dave Brinson said: “Way back in 2010, a handful of local trade unionists sat in a room in Eastbourne Town Hall, and agreed to try and re-form a trades council for Eastbourne.

We succeeded, building the vibrant trades council we now have- and I am thrilled that one of those trade unionists ‘who believed’ is now national President of Britain’s fifth largest Union.

Amy has been a great and steadfast friend of trade unionists in Eastbourne, and will be an excellent President of Usdaw.”

East Sussex says: SAVE OUR NHS

The Launch meeting of an East Sussex Save the NHS Campaign to unite people, who care about the NHS, across the region covered by East Sussex Healthcare Trust will be held on Monday 9th April.

Our NHS is now suffering its deepest crisis since the birth of the service nearly 70 years ago. Unless we unite to fight against the politics that is creating this crisis we face a bleak future where healthcare will become a luxury and not an automatic right.

This will be a speaker event that will try to explain what is happening right now to our cherished service and what we can do to try and protect it. There is good reason to feel hopeful that a public campaign to fight for local services could be successful. This has already happened in many other areas.

Speakers for the evening will be:

Dr Carl Walker;
Madeleine Dickens from Sussex Defened the NHS,
Lloyd Russell Moyle, Labour and Co-operative MP.

There will be a Q&A session towards the end of the evening.

The meeting will be held in the Central Hall at the View Hotel, where there is disabled access. Doors will open at 6.30pm.   Admission is free, but attendees are asked to register in advance by clicking here. 

Trades Council AGM: Tuesday 21st March

The AGM of the Eastbourne Trades Council will be at 7.30pm, Tuesday 21st March, at the View Hotel  (formerly T&G/Unite Centre) , Grand Parade, Eastbourne.

All local trade unionists (including retired trade unionists) are invited, although only delegates from affiliated unions may stand as officers or vote on financial or policy matters.

A G E N D A

1. Introductions and apologies for absence
2. Minutes of the AGM from 2016
3. Adoption of Rules for 2017 (proposal is same as for 2016) and new affiliates.
4. Officers' Reports and Accounts
5. Election of Officers for 2017

a) Chair
b) Vice Chair
c) Secretary

d) Assistant Secretary
e) Treasurer
f) Additional non-officer members of the Executive Committee, if required

6. Guest Speaker(s) to be confirmed

7. Campaign Updates- including local and national Union campaigns,  County Association of Trades Councils, Eastbourne People's Assembly etc.

8. Pattern of meetings for 2017
9. Campaign Contacts for 2017

10. Presentation of the Len Caine Award  to Keith Mitchell of RMT

Trades Council Meeting: Tuesday 24th May

The next meeting of Eastbourne Trades Council will be on Tuesday 24th May, 7.30pm at the View Hotel (formerly known as the Unite/T&G Eastbourne Centre), Grand Parade, Eastbourne. All local trade union members, including retired trade unionists, are welcome to attend the meeting.

THE AGENDA WILL BE:

1. Introductions and apologies for absence
2. Approval of new affiliations.
3. Minutes of previous ordinary meeting (January) and matters arising. 
4. Treasurer's Report- Gordon Dyer
5. Campaigns Reports:  To include Rail Dispute update, Education White Paper and Junior Doctors Campaign, plus any additional campaigning for the Summer
6. Report from  East Sussex County Association of Trades Councils
7. Any other business

The bar will be open afterwards !

Eastbourne: Poverty Pay in the Public Sector !

EASTBOURNE BOROUGH COUNCIL: 42% of staff paid less than Living Wage

EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL: 27% of staff paid less than Living Wage

EAST SUSSEX  HOSPITALS (DGH): 11% of staff paid less than Living Wage. 

As it is Living Wage week, we were keen to look at the situation for workers in Eastbourne. Eastbourne has many staff employed in the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors, all of which have traditionally been low-paid- although Morrisons and Lidl have recently joined the ranks of Living Wage employers. A number of other employers active in Eastbourne have also signed up to the Living Wage foundation's Living Wage accreditation, paying all staff over 18 £8.15 or more. You can read these here

Brighton and Hove City Council is accredited as a Living Wage employer, and Hastings Borough Council pays all of its directly employed staff above the Living Wage rate. So the public sector is setting a good example, yes ?...... Sadly not in Eastbourne !

East Sussex County Council employs a total of 16,200 people (many are part time and/or casual- the full time equivalent is 8,717 )   Of these, a staggering 4,373 were paid below the living wage rate- then £7.85-  in August, that's 27% of the council's workforce.

Eastbourne Borough Council employed 741, and 314 of these were paid less than the living wage. This equates to just over 42% of the council workforce.

Of those, we established that 27 were under 18 (the age at which the Living Wage Foundation expects their accredited employers to pay the Living Wage.)

Shockingly, the Borough Council still takes advantage of the lower rates within the national minimum wage to pay under 21's even less:  47 staff were paid less than the adult national minimum wage of £6,50 !

Perhaps the NHS would be better ?

Sussex Community NHS Trust, the main provider of NHS community health and care services across West Sussex, Brighton & Hove and High Weald, Lewes and Havens area of East Sussex has been paying the Living Wage since 2013. Sussex Partnership NHS Trust which provides services for those with mental health problems, learning disabilities or an addiction to drugs or alcohol have agreed to do the same at Board Level and are currently looking at the logistics around implementation.

As for the good old East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Eastbourne DGH- not such good news..... as we reported earlier, of a total workforce of 7314 across the trust (including the Conquest Hopsital in Hastings) 790 people were paid less than the Living Wage: around 11% of the workforce.

Trades Council secretary, Dave Brinson recalls: "I was in a meeting a couple of years ago, when an official of the Borough council berated me for suggesting that the town was a 'low wage' economy, This would seem to prove a point- and the Borough Council itself is at the forefront of perpetuating it !"

Source for EBC and ESCC information: FoI request by Dave Brinson, covering August pay period. Source for NHS information, FoI request by Unison. 

Next Trades Council Meeting: Tuesday 17th November

The next meeting of Eastbourne Trades Council will be on Tuesday 17th November, 7.30pm at the View Hotel (formerly known as the Unite/T&G Eastbourne Centre), Grand Parade, Eastbourne. All local trade union members, including retired trade unionists, are welcome to attend the meeting.

THE AGENDA WILL BE:

1. Introductions and apologies for absence
2. Approval of new affiliations.
3. Minutes of previous meeting (September) and matters arising. 
4. Treasurer's Report- Gordon Dyer
5. ANTI CUTS CAMPAIGNS- including adult social care and others
6. LIVING WAGE CAMPAIGNS: Update on campaigns, including reports from Unison, People's Assembly and others involved in the campaign.
7. Report from  East Sussex County Association of Trades Councils
8. Any other Campaigns: Colleagues invited to provide information on their Unions’ local and national campaigns, and any support that the Trades Council could give.
9. Any other business. The bar will be open afterwards !

Eastbourne Trade Unionists march to say: "End Austerity Now"

The Eastbourne Trades Council will be marching with tens of thousands of others at the End Austerity Now demonstration, called by the People's Assembly Against Austerity.

Assemble 12pm, Bank of England (Queen Victoria St) City of London. March to Parliament Square.    

The Eastbourne contingent will be leaving together from Eastbourne Station, and there is some support towards ticket costs from the trades council for local trade union members.  Rob Clarke from Unite and Derek Hansford from CWU will be leading our group.

The People’s Assembly:

1.  Is a broad united national campaign against austerity, cuts and privatisation in our workplaces, community and welfare services, based on general agreement with the signatories’ Founding Statement.
2.  Is linked to no political party, committed to open non-sectarian working and dedicated to supplementing, rather than supplanting, trade union, student, pensioner and community opposition to austerity measures.
3.  Is based on affiliation by individual supporters, unions nationally and locally, anti-cuts campaigns, and other student, pensioner, unemployed, disabled people’s, women’s, Black people’s, youth and LGBT campaigning organisations.
4.  Aspires to support, encourage, coordinate joint action, and facilitate a transfer of experience rather than to command.
5.  Encourages the establishment of new local campaigns and/or People’s Assemblies.
6.  Organises newsletters, a website, twitter, Facebook and social media, meetings, conferences, lobbies, rallies, marches, demonstrations and other events.
7.  Vehemently opposes all proposals to “solve” the crisis by discrimination or scapegoating on  grounds of disability, race, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, gender, age, sexual orientation or identity.
8.  Liaises closely with similar movements in other countries resisting austerity measures.
9.  Encourages a wide debate on how to protect the welfare state and develop an alternative programme for economic and social recovery.

Next Trades Council Meeting: Tuesday 12th May

The next meeting of Eastbourne Trades Council will be on Tuesday 12th May, 7.30pm at the View Hotel (formerly known as the Unite/T&G Eastbourne Centre), Grand Parade, Eastbourne. 

Megan Dobney, the Regional Secretary of the TUC will be our guest, and will speak and lead discussion on the priorities for the movement following the General Election.   Derek Hansford from Hastings TUC and the proposed County Association will also report on the recent SERTUC AGM.

All local trade union members, including retired trade unionists, are welcome to attend the meeting.

THE AGENDA WILL BE:

1. Introductions and apologies for absence

2. Approval of new affiliations.

3. Minutes of previous meeting (January) and matters arising. Copies of the draft minutes of the March AGM will also be available for information.

4. Treasurer's Report- Gordon Dyer

5. Guest Speaker: Megan Dobney, Regional Secretary of SERTUC, on campaign priorities for the trades councils.

6. Report on SERTUC AGM from Derek Hansford (Hastings Trades Council)

7.  Update on arrangements for an East Sussex County Association of Trades Councils- including to agree our affiliation fee.

8. Any other Campaigns: Colleagues invited to provide information on their Unions’ local and national campaigns, and any support that the Trades Council could give.

9. Any other business.

The bar will be open afterwards !