Next Trades Council Meeting: January 17th

The next meeting of Eastbourne Trades Council will be on Tuesday 17th January, 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 any new affiliations.
3. Minutes of previous meeting (November) and matters arising.
4. Treasurer's Report- Gordon Dyer (apologies given, report sent)
5. RAIL CAMPAIGNS: Update on RMT, ASLEF and TSSA action and campaigns; ticket office action and linking to Action for Rail campaigning.
5. RECLAIM MAY DAY update on planning and grant application.
6. Ongoing Union Campaigns- all delegates are invited to update on their unions' current local and
national campaigning.
7. 2017 AGM: To include proposals for guest speaker and nomination for the Len Caine Memorial
Award.
8. Any other business

URGENT: Say NO to cuts at Eastbourne Rail Station

The TSSA and RMT are campaigning to save the opening times of Eastbourne ticket office.

Eastbourne railway station have displayed posters advising that they plan to reduce the ticket office hours and introduce a Station Host. It can be:

* Agreed that the station should be staffed from first to last service 7 days a week.
* Agreed that It would be nice to be met by a Station Host.
* Agreed that the ticket office should be staffed at peaked times
* Agreed that the railway station facilities should be available at all times

However, it cannot be agreed that the closure of the ticket office, which frequently has long queues, is a way forward to improve my customer service.
* The ticket machines do not provide all the tickets and services I need
* The Ticket machine does not advise the best tickets to purchase best route to take
 * Elderly and physically restricted people will have problems using the machines or seeking help
* The ticket hall will become more congested with people crowding around the gates and machines.
* The reduction in staff will also result in a reduction in the customer service provided

The opinion formed is, more staff are required, not only on the station but also in the ticket office

To register your concerns please email, by the 14 March:

GTR_Consultation@transportfocus.org.uk   With 'Eastbourne Railway Station' as the subject.

Please have your say, to keep services at Eastbourne Station !

Trades Council Meeting: November 13th

The next meeting of Eastbourne Trades Council will be on Tuesday 13th November, at 7.30pm, at the Unite Eastbourne Centre, Grand Parade, Eastbourne.

 

Our guest speaker is Garry Hassell from the RMT, who will be speaking about the Action for Rail campaign, which is supported by RMT, Aslef, TSSA and Unite. The campaign seeks to make the case for a publicly owned rail system run for people not profit. You can read more about the campaign at their website here: http://actionforrail.org/

 

All local trade union members, including retired trade unionists, are welcome to attend the meeting, which will also discuss other business, including the next steps following the well-attended 20th October march, and other local campaigns.

THE AGENDA WILL BE:

1. Introductions and apologies for absence
2. Approval of new affiliations.
3. Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

4. Guest Speaker: Garry Hassell, Action for Rail/ RMT

5. Treasurer's Report- Gordon Dyer
6. Any other Campaigns: Colleagues invited to provide information on their Unions’ local and national campaigns, and any support that the Trades Council could give.
8. Any other business.

Defend Concessionary Coach Travel

At the Comprehensive Spending Review the Government announced its intention to withdraw the Coach Concessionary Travel scheme from the end of October this year. (The equivalent scheme in Scotland - which provides free, not half price coach travel, will remain.) The scheme provides half price coach travel for disabled people and those over 60 within England and Wales.

Trade Unionists are concerned that the extra cost now involved in coach travel will deter people from travelling. The reduction in passengers could trigger the removal of local coach services and the opportunity to travel from a small community and visit friends / family will be removed.

TSSA delegate to Eastbourne Trades Council, Michael Litchfield has been lobbying Stephen Lloyd MP, urging him to encourage the Department of Transport to work with the coach industry to fully understand and reduce the impact the removal of the Coach Concessionary Travel scheme will have on the elderly, disabled and small communities. Local Trade Unionists are encouraged to add their voices to the campaign. You can download a model letter by clicking here.

Bombardier: The Impact in East Sussex

We now know the full impact of the Government's disastrous decision to award the contract for building the new fleet of Thameslink Trains to Siemens in Germany, instead of the UK Bombardier plant, potentially spelling the end of train manufacturing in Britain.

Tens of thousands of supply chain jobs in nearly every constituency in the country will be affected. According to research from the RMT Union, East Sussex firms in the Bombardier supply chain include:

Longsite Management and Logistics of East Dean, Tuthill Controls Group in Hailsham Southdowns Environmental Consultants in Lewes, and Deutche UK in Hastings.

On top of the thousands of job losses we now know that that nearly 250 apprenticeships and engineering jobs for new graduates from the Bombardier “Centre of Excellence” will be lost if the government fails to reverse the decision to send the Thameslink fleet contract overseas. With nearly a million young people out of work, kicking the legs from under a skills and training Centre of Excellence is a further major blow to youth employment.

We have also learnt from parliamentary answers that more accountants than engineers advised the Government on the contract. Of the nine government officials involved in the project only two had an engineering background.

It was also shown that the government spent ten times as much for advice from lawyers and accountants than engineers. It is shameful that the procurement exercise has been dominated by accountants and management consultants on fat fees while the skills , and engineering excellence of Bombardier at Derby has been totally ignored.

Please support the Parliamentary Rally and briefing to save Bombardier jobs on Wednesday 12th October, 12.30pm, at Committee Room 10, House of Commons, London.