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!

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.

Len Caine Prize goes to NEU's Jane

The Eastbourne Trades Union Council presented its annual Len Caine Memorial Prize to local music teacher Jane Humberstone at its AGM last night.

The annual prize seeks to recognise outstanding service by a local union representative.  Jane Humberstone was the National Education Union rep for the East Sussex Music Service, and was at the forefront of the campaign against proposals to close down the instrumental teaching service last year.  The campaign  saw over 10,000 people sign a petition against closure, and last year's May Day March was proudly led by the campaign- including a musical delegation of pupils and teachers playing Sussex By The Sea!

Trades Council Secretary, Dave Brinson said:   "When the disgraceful plans to axe instrumental teaching were put forward, Jane, as the NEU rep led from the front in a vigorous and imaginative campaign that saved this important service.   Over many years, thousands of local children have benefited from Jane's inspirational music teaching, and thanks to her leadership of the campaign, many more will continue to enjoy the huge educational and personal benefits of learning music.   Jane is off to pastures new in the summer- we will miss her!"

The prize was inaugurated to remember Len Caine, a leading local trade unionist and Labour activist, who served as a Councillor and later an honorary Alderman on Eastbourne Borough Council.  Len passed away in 2008, aged 81.

Next Trades Council Meeting: Tuesday 15th January

The next meeting of the Eastbourne Trades Council will be at 7.30pm, Tuesday 15th January 2019, at the View Hotel (formerly T&G/Unite Centre) , Grand Parade, Eastbourne. All local trade unionists (including retired trade unionists) are invited. 

A G E N D A 

1. Introductions and apologies for absence
2. Approval of any new affiliations.
3. Minutes of previous meeting (November) and matters arising.
4. Treasurer's Report

5. GUEST SPEAKER: SAM GURNEY- TUC Regional Secretary for London, East and South East

6. Other Union Campaigns:
(a) ESCC Core Offer cuts
(b) Education Update
(c) Retail Update
(d) NHS Update
(e) Other campaigns

7. Events- including Trades Councils National Conference
8. Nominations open for Officers for March AGM and Len Caine Prize
9. Any other business

'No confidence' in Fire Service Senior Leadership: FBU

At an emergency meeting, members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) East Sussex Committee, unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in the senior leadership team of East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service (ESFRS). 

East Sussex FBU members working on the frontline, have continually raised concerns over ESFRS’s senior leadership’s plans to implement changes that seek to reduce both public and firefighter safety. 

In the latest in a series of judgement errors, the senior leadership team recently agreed to introduce small appliances, which carry less life-saving equipment. This latest decision has led to the vote of no confidence.

Mark Brown, FBU brigade secretary said:

“This is an ill-conceived plan that has not been properly thought-through. We have repeatedly raised concerns with senior leadership over many months, unfortunately rather than listen to the FBU, our safety reps and our members, they have instead chosen to agree a plan that will reduce the service’s ability to deal with emergencies effectively. The senior leadership team need to assess the risk posed to the public, before contemplating any plans that seek to reduce fire cover and/or reduce equipment available to frontline staff.” 

In June 2018 East Sussex FRS’s own staff survey, showed that only 13% of wholetime firefighters in East Sussex had confidence in the principal officers leading ESFRS. Since then the leadership team have failed to take on board the findings and have instead agreed plans and changes that further reduce confidence in them.

Mark Brown continued:

“This apparent lack of learning has left the FBU membership in East Sussex with no option other than to pass a ‘vote of no confidence’. Despite the ‘vote of no confidence’ the FBU remain committed to working with management to find solutions that enable ESFRS to provide a safe and efficient service for its staff and the public.”

Save our English Language Service!

NEU, Unison, GMB and NASUWT members in the English as an Additional Language Service need your URGENT help!

East Sussex County Council is proposing to close down the English as an Additional Language Service entirely- with all of its specialist teachers and bi-lingual support officers facing redundancy, and losing this wealth of expertise and experience to local schools forever.

The decision has come following a decision from the Local Authority Secondary Schools not to continue 'de-delegating' a fixed amount from their budget to EALS. These schools would almost certainly continue to purchase some services from the EALS service on a "buy in" basis however, as Academy schools already do.

The Local Authority Primary Schools have committed to continue funding the service- that's more than three-quarters of the existing budget. However the County Council are claiming that, even with this and the expectation of a buy-in from the Secondaries, that the service will not be viable.

Our members actually working within the Service disagree, and have made clear financial proposals that would keep the service open, and keep this vital support available to some of our most vulnerable children.

Please take a couple of minutes to help our colleagues in three ways:

1) Make a submission to the County Council's online consultation about the closure of the service. This is a very short survey and will only take a few minutes- but it is vital that we get a good number of returns from education professionals such as yourselves.

2) Send a short email to your local County Councillor. This decision is being made "in their name" and they have the right and responsibility to hold the senior management at ESCC to account. You can find who your local County Councilllor is, and their email, by clicking and inputting your postcode here.

3) Spread the word! Let your colleagues know this is happening. Ask your Head Teacher to lobby ESCC to keep a service open. If you have friends and neighbours who share your concern then ask them to add their voice. If you would like printed materials for your staffroom or friends, please let us know.

We will continue putting information about this situation on our dedicated website for the campaign:

www.SaveEALS.com

Next Trades Council: Tuesday 20th November

The next meeting of the Eastbourne Trades Council will be at 7.30pm, Tuesday 20th November, at the View Hotel (formerly T&G/Unite Centre) , Grand Parade, Eastbourne. All local trade unionists (including retired trade unionists) are invited.

A G E N D A

1. Introductions and apologies for absence

2. Approval of any new affiliations.

3. Minutes of previous meeting (October) and matters arising.

4. Treasurer's Report

5. EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL- THE IMPACT OF THE "CORE OFFER" CUTS 

6. Other Union Campaigns:

(a) Derecognition of NEU at East Sussex College Group

(b) RMT ongoing safety dispute at Southern

(c) Retail Update

(d) NHS Update

(e) Other campaigns

7. Events

(a) Tony Benn film- report

(b) Engels Plaque etc. update

(c) Early Planning for 2019 events

8. Any other business

Next Trades Council: Tuesday 9th October

The next meeting of the Eastbourne Trades Council will be at 7.30pm, Tuesday 9th October, at the View Hotel (formerly T&G/Unite Centre) , Grand Parade, Eastbourne. All local trade unionists (including retired trade unionists) are invited. 

A G E N D A 

1. Introductions and apologies for absence

2. Approval of any new affiliations.

3. Minutes of previous meeting (July) and matters arising.

4. Treasurer's Report

5. Campaigns Update:
(a) Derecognition of NEU at East Sussex College Group
(b) RMT ongoing safety dispute at Southern
(c) Retail Update
(d) NHS Update including pay settlement and DGH parking
(e) IndyCube and Community Union self-employed workers' campaigning.

6.  Anti-Cuts campaigns: including East Sussex Save the NHS, People's Assembly and campaign against Social Care Cuts in ESCC.

7. Events:
(a) Modern Slavery campaign- possible link with the Co-op Party campaigning
(b) Engels Plaque update
(c) Pride Report

8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Next Meeting: Tuesday 15th May

The next meeting of the Eastbourne Trades Council will be at 7.30pm, Tuesday 15th May, at the View Hotel (formerly T&G/Unite Centre) , Grand Parade, Eastbourne.

All local trade unionists (including retired trade unionists) are invited.

A G E N D A

1. Introductions and apologies for absence

2. Approval of any new affiliations.

3. Minutes of previous meeting (January) and matters arising. Draft minutes from the March AGM will also be available. 

4. Treasurer's Report

5. Guest Speaker: Jane Humberstone, NEU Rep at the East Sussex Music Service, and update on the campaign against closure of the Instrumental Teaching Service

6. Other live disputes and campaigns: 

(a) Teachers' Pay Dispute

(b) RMT safety dispute at Southern

(c) Social Care Cuts campaign- Unison and others, including "Save our Services" demo on 20th May

(d) Retail matters, especially Sainsbury's and ASDA merger proposal

7. Events:

(a)   MAY DAY and WMD:  To review the success of both events and to suggest work for next year.

(b)   PRIDE:  To agree content and staffing of our stall, and encouraging trade unions to join the march.

(c)  ENGELS PLAQUE: Update from Carol Mills (Unite Community)

8. Motion from Unite Community

9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

May Day: We marched!

Eastbourne trade unionists proudly marched through the town on Monday to mark International Workers' Day.  This year, the march proudly welcomed a contingent of staff, parents and students from the East Sussex Music Service, whose instrumental teaching service was earmarked for closure last month.  Nearly 12,000 people have signed the petition against closure: if you haven't yet, please click here.

Other banners and flags on the march included the National Education Union, Unite the Union, RMT, Unite Communuity,  Usdaw, The People's Assembly, Eastbourne Labour Women's Forum,  East Sussex Co-operative Party,  and Devonshire and Meads Labour Party. 

A rally and picnic at the Wish Tower slopes was introduced by Trades Council secretary Dave Brinson. Attendees heard an impassioned speech from Jane Humberstone, union rep at East Sussex Music Service, as well as from  Lucette Davies from East Sussex Save the NHS,  Unison's Chrissie Parsons about threatened social care closures including Milton Grange and Firwood House, and Julie Hart of USDAW speaking about her union's Respect for Shopworkers campaign.  Carol Mills from Unite Community spoke about some of Eastbourne's less well-known radical history. 

The marchers were pleased to be visited by local MP Stephen Lloyd at the start of the march in Hyde Gardens, and to welcome USDAW's new national President, Amy Murphy, as a guest at the rally.

The May Day march was a feature in Eastbourne's campaigning calendar for decades, and the Trades Council were thrilled to bring this tradition back last year, after a twenty year gap.