It's Young Workers' Month

November is the Trade Union Congress' Young Workers' Month.

Why do we need Young Workers' Month ?

• Presently there are 683,000 people aged 16-24 (or 14.8%) who are looking for and available for work: youth unemployment rate is nearly three times the rate for all workers aged 16+ 
• In 2014 19.6% of young workers were underemployed, more than double the percentage of any other age group. Underemployed workers are those people who have jobs but want to work more hours than they currently do. Young workers have consistently been twice as likely to be underemployed than workers in general, meaning it has become commonplace for them to be trapped in jobs that don’t have enough hours to provide the income they need.
• 255,000 young people (or 6.7%) are in zero hours contracts, meaning that the proportion of people in zero hours contracts is three times higher for young people than the adult population generally.
• Young people’s wages fell disproportionately further than those of older workers during the downturn. Between 2009 and 2014 median hourly earnings for 22-29 year olds (excluding overtime and RPIJ-adjusted) fell by 12.7%, 
• The inevitable consequence of this low pay is young people finding it harder and harder to get by. The most recent figures show that 1 in 5 (22.4%) young people are at risk of poverty.

The National Minimum Wage- introduced in 1998- allows a lower rate for workers under 21.  The Government's wrongly-called "national living wage" coming in next year, will only apply to the over 25's- leaving young workers falling further behind.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Younger workers must be treated fairly. It is wrong to leave 21 to 24 year olds out: they face the same expenses as other adults and are highly productive. Not paying them the full minimum wage will demotivate younger adults, who will get less pay than their colleagues for the same work."

Eastbourne Borough Council- to its shame- takes full advantage of the young worker rates: our freedom of information request showed that during August 2015 47 young staff (6% of the council workforce) were paid less than the minimum wage rate of £6.50 an hour. 

Why Should Young Workers Join a Union ?

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. 

Fair Pay Fortnight- Well Done Eastbourne

Eastbourne Trades Council is proud to have supported the TUC's Fair Pay Fortnight, campaigning for a Living Wage and against exploitative zero-hours contracts in Eastbourne and across the country !


Our dedicated Fair Pay for Eastbourne website has carried information about the Living Wage, advice on Zero Hours contracts, and how and which Union to join.

We have published a list of known Living Wage employers operating or employing staff living in Eastbourne.

We literally kicked off the fortnight by mobilising football fans in Eastbourne to join the 38 Degrees campaign for Fair Pay for ordinary staff such as ground staff and cleaners in Premiership football clubs. Only one team (Chelsea) is currently a Living Wage employer.  We promoted the excellent 38 Degrees petitions- one for each team in the Premier League. These are still open, and you can find your team and sign here.

We have helped the local Citizens Advice Bureau promote their survey into zero-hours or variable hours contracts in Eastbourne, and have circulated important campaigning information around combatting zero-hours contracts to union activists across the town.

We were proud to promote the work of the Citizens UK I Care about Care campaign, which is calling for a charter of rights for staff working in the social care sector. This affects many working people in Eastbourne, many of whom are not just paid under the Living Wage, but many have contracts that mean, in practice, they are being paid less than the National Minimum Wage.  We promoted Unisons' petition calling for this exploitation to end.

Stephen Lloyd MP is a vocal champion of the Apprenticeship scheme, but also a conspicuous defender of the disgraceful £2.73 per hour minimum wage for apprentices. The excellent report from the National Union of Students- entitled Forget Me Not blows apart some of the myths around the Apprenticeship scheme, and we proudly promoted this.

We have encouraged local trade unionists to support a range of national Fair Pay campaigns, including:-

• Living Wage and BECTU  union recognition for Picturehouse Cinema workers- including at the Duke of York's in Brighton.
• Amazon- Pay your staff and Pay Your Taxes- a campaign run by the GMB
• Church of England- practice what you preach- after the letter from Bishops about the Living Wage exposed failings in a number of C of E employers !

The fortnight may be over, but the campaign goes on.  We will continue to update our Fair Pay for Eastbourne site, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.

Frances slams "short-term" budget

Responding to the Chancellor’s Budget today, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“This was a pre-election Budget, with its give-aways aimed at the better off rather than lifting the living standards of the many. It will be paid for by further years of austerity, public services brought to near collapse, public sector pay cuts and a welfare cap that bites into the safety net that any of us might need. 

There was nothing for the young who continue to face the worst job market in decades and unaffordable housing.  Nor was there any relief for low and middle earners who, after years of falling living standards, have no spare cash to take advantage of the help for savers, and who now face year on year cuts in benefits for working families as the welfare cap bites. 

The best news for the long-term health of the economy is the genuine help for manufacturing, but it was the exception in this highly political short-term Budget that continued the Chancellor’s project to shrink the state and help the rich.”

And the real effect on the poorest people in society was summed up by Katy Wright, head of policy for Oxfam:

"We're living in a deeply divided Britain, where just five families have the same wealth as over 12 million of the UK's poorest people. We'd be surprised if any government would be comfortable with this disparity, especially at a time when half a million people are being forced to visit foodbanks. 

The increase in personal tax allowances will actually do little for the working poor - who will see the majority of any gains taken away as benefits are clawed back - and they will make higher earners even better off" 

Regional Disabled Workers Conference

All local trade unionists are invited to apply to attend this conference, jointly run by  SERTUC Disabled Workers Committee with SERTUC Young Members Network conference. Places are free, but application in advance is essential !

"Young Disabled People, employed and empowered?" is on Saturday 6 April from 11am to 3pm  at Congress House, Great Russell Street, London.

Sessions include:-

• Further and Higher Education: the specific challenges facing disabled young people with Jawanza Ipyana, National Union of Students
• Panel Discussion: Employment, Policy and Good Practice in the workplace with Rob McCraken CWU and Jonathan Naess CEO Stand to Reason
• Question Time: How the Paralympics' dream was destroyed by the cuts with Tara Flood, Paralympic Gold Medallist and Director of Alliance for Inclusive Education, Penny Pepper and Roger Lewis Disabled People Against Cuts, Rob McCraken and Jawanza Ipyana

This conference is free to attend, but registration is essential - please register with Joanne Adams at jadams@tuc.org.uk

Lobby: Opposing cuts by East Sussex County Council

Lewes Stop the Cuts has vowed to campaign against cuts proposed by East Sussex County Council, starting with a lobby of the council meeting at County Hall in Lewes on Tuesday 12 February.  It is inviting individuals and organisations across the county to join in.

 

The lobby will meet at the entrance to County Hall between 9 am and 9.45 on the 12^th - Can you come?

 

East Sussex is facing huge cuts to services for the most vulnerable: children with special needs, disabled people, victims of domestic violence, older people, young people at risk, young parents and the homeless will all lose support or vital services. An estimated 100 jobs under threat (figures from BBC report),

 

We intend to do all we can to fight these proposals.  The council wants to save £60 million over 3 years.

 

But they are  sitting on £473m in reserves, (as of March 2012) and LSTC argues that some of these reserves should be used to fund any shortfall due to the coalition government’s draconian and unjust cuts. The council has also just committed about £40 million on the polluting Bexhill/Hastings link road.

 

The Cuts in Detail:

 

Adult Social Care: Older People

●     Day services ’decommissioned’, with assessed needs and residential services needs to be met from private sector.

●     End of Handyperson Grant Scheme, a universal grant for over 65s of up to £200.

●     Reduced support for community services and personal care budgets.

 

Adult Social Care: Working Age Adults

●     Community based services to focus on personal care rather than activities of daily living, reducing the range of activities available.

●     Reduced support for personal budgets

 

Universal Services

●     Reduction in training for staff

●     Strategy and Commissioning staff reductions in 2015/16

●     Special Needs Housing Officers to be made redundant

●     Housing support for vulnerable older people cut by 15% by 2015/16

●     Young Parent Services - loss of 1 of 3 accommodation based services. Loss of night services and on site support for individuals in crisis.

●     Young people at Risk - removal of an intensive service for young homeless people or those leaving care

●     Supported Accommodation and Independent Living - cut by 15%

●     Offenders and complex homeless support - cut pilot scheme by 15%

●     Domestic Violence Refuges - cut from 5 to 4

●     Mental health and Homeless Services - closure of 1 accommodation based service.

 

Special Education Needs and Disability

●     Reduction of agency foster care, leading to more residential care and closure of respite unit.

●     Cut after school clubs and play schemes

 

Children’s Social Care

●     Reduced in house capacity for residential care

 

Learning and Schools Effectiveness

●     Reduced universal service in Childrens Centres

●     Reduce Secondary Behaviour Support service

●     Reduce Targeted Youth Service (community group work, 1:1, CAMHS and substance misuse)

●     Reduce number of qualified teachers in Childrens Centres, and services targeted towards supporting vulnerable young parents.

●     Reduce funding for Standards and Learning Effectiveness (SLES) support to schools

●     Remove inclusion bursary to support disabled children to access childcare and early years provision.

●     Reduce Youth Offending team

●     2.5% increase in charges for traded services

●     Removal of transport support for parents of post 16 SEN young people except for nearest school

 

Transport

●     Reduce Road safety education and contribution to Sussex Safer Roads Partnership

 

Community Services

●     Libraries - reduce staffing and  book stock budget.

●     Arts - removal of Grant Aid Budget to match fund external organisations 

 

 

For more information contact:  LSTC media officer Chris Smith 01273 474070 (office hours)   079015 33876 (mobile) or email chris.smith@hbhelp.co.uk

 

Lewes Stop the Cuts is a non party campaign group opposed to cuts in public services affecting Lewes.  It has over 450 supporters who are sent regular updates.  To subscribe visit our website at http://lewesstopthecuts

Choose Youth – Stop the cuts to young people’s services

At 2pm on Saturday 12th February there will be a live webcast of a rally at which 1,000 young people and their youth workers representing 100,000s of users and staff will join forces to get government to think again, as funding cuts threaten to wipe out the youth service all together.

You can watch how young people and Unite will rise to the challenge to stop these cuts. The day will focus on how to organise campaigns to stop the cuts with a session from a 12 year old campaigner from the prime minister's Witney constituency who has been working tirelessly to save his local youth club. At 2pm on Saturday 12th February log on here.

The assault on young people’s services will have a devastating effect on their hopes for the future and will have far reaching effects on communities and the economy.

• Cuts of the scale proposed are a sure-fire way to deepen social problems in months and years to come.
• The roll call of services at risk of closure is growing daily. Warwickshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Manchester city council now plan to scrap its youth service.
• Those services include: youth clubs, youth programmes, Connexions centres and youth counselling centres. 82 per cent of voluntary sector youth groups anticipate that they will have to close whole projects.

7,000 professionally qualified staff… 30,000 trained youth support workers… half a million volunteers……Britain’s youth services are world class. They’re far too good to lose.

But nearly every project working with 13-18 year olds is at risk. It’s not too late to tell the decision makers that they’ve got their priorities wrong. Send them a clear message: a message that Youth Services Change Lives.

To find out more about Unite's campaign to save youth services click here.