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 !

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.

Next Trades Council Meeting: November 2014

The next meeting of Eastbourne Trades Council will be on Tuesday 18th 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 and matters arising

4. Treasurer's Report- Gordon Dyer

5. CAMPAIGNS FOR 2015- what issues should the Trades Council be pushing locally during the General and Local elections ?  (to include introductory comments from Jake Lambert, NUT delegate and Eastbourne's Labour Parliamentary candidate)

6. GMB Hospital march, 29th November- arrangements and publicity

7. 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 !

We Marched !

Eastbourne Trades Council were very proud to be well represented at the TUC's Britain Needs A Pay Rise demonstration in London on 18th October.

The trades council once again funded train tickets for local trade unionists (with special thanks to the NUT for their sponsorship) , and others made their way there with their own unions' transport. Eastbourne trade unionists were well represented from Unite the Union (a superb turnout), NUT, Unison, Equity, CWU and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists amongst others.

Tens of thousands of trade unionists joined from all over the country to march through central London, and to hear from a range of speakers, compered by comedians Andy Parsons and Amy Lamé.

TUC General Secretary, Frances O'Grady said:

"Our message is that after the longest and deepest pay squeeze in recorded history, it’s time to end the lock-out that has kept the vast majority from sharing in the economic recovery.  The average worker is £50 a week worse off than in 2007 and five million earn less than the living wage. Meanwhile, top directors now earn 175 times more than the average worker.  

“If politicians wonder why so many feel excluded from the democratic process, they should start with bread and butter living standards.  

“An economy that finds money for tax cuts for the rich and boardroom greed, while the rest face a pay squeeze and big cuts to the welfare system –that any of us might need – is no longer working for the many.”  

March in London on 18th October- transport from Eastbourne

The TUC has called a mass march and rally in London as part of our campaign against cuts and so-called austerity-  for an economic recovery that benefits us all, not just those at the top.

Eastbourne Trades Council will once again be arranging some free train tickets from Eastbourne Station to the event on 18th October, for local trade unionists and their families.  We will depart on the 9.31 train, changing at Haywards Heath to a train to London Blackfriars, near to the start of the march.

If you would like to book a ticket, please sign up by clicking here.

For more information on the march, and the TUC's Britain Needs a Payrise campaign, visit the TUC site here.