STOP "FIRE AND REHIRE"- support Barry Gardiner's Private Members' Bill

Thousands of British workers are threatened with being fired and rehired on worse pay and conditions to do the same job. It’s not dodgy backstreet companies doing this, it’s the biggest names on our high street. Will you and your colleagues be next?

Tesco and Sainsbury’s are both at it. From your morning Weetabix and coffee to your holiday snack at the airport, fire and rehire is everywhere.  Many household names have made billions during lockdown, but greedy bosses want even more and it’s the workers who have to pay. British Gas, Clarks Shoes and Heathrow Airport are just some of businesses forcing families into poverty with no regard for loyalty or years of service.

Over the years cost cutting employers have copied money-grabbing bosses in other industries. Many unions across Britain are asking will their members be next. Even teachers are being fired and rehired in schools, no one seems safe.

Labour MP Barry Gardiner has introduced a Private Member’s Bill to outlaw this practice. It’s wrong that workers who have given their lives to companies now can’t pay their rent, go on holiday or sleep because of worry. This is the human cost of telling a worker, your pay is cut by 25%, you’ll work longer hours and your pension is under threat. Fire and rehire is everywhere.

Workers are being bullied, sacked and told they will only be re-employed to do the same basic job if they accept less money and poorer conditions. It’s an issue that affects every constituency, every industry – a social evil that is afflicting hundreds of thousands of families. As if the pandemic was not bad enough, companies are now threatening people with the sack so they can pay them less or take their pensions.

At food giant Jacob Douwe Egberts in Banbury, coffee consumption was up 40 per cent during the lockdown and JDE made record profits, but that didn’t stop them threatening their workforce with the sack unless they accepted a cut in wages of up to £12,000.

No family should have to put up with that. How do you pay your rent or your mortgage with a cut like that? How can you support your family? Every pound cut is a pound less to pay your rent, to pay your mortgage and the fear of eviction or repossession is very real.

It’s just plain wrong and the Government SAYS it agree
s. Leading Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg told MP’s fire and rehire was “bad practise” and no respectable employer would do it. Even the Prime Minister says it’s unacceptable. But it remains to be seen whether Boris will support our campaign to outlaw this evil practise.

Tory Business Minister, Paul Scully, promises he will “issue guidelines” but many unions believe those guidelines won’t protect anyone.

Right wingers may say bosses should be left to do as they please in a free market, but the proposed Bill will not stop struggling firms restructuring or changing outdated practises. Instead, it will stop bad bosses sacking workers to avoid redundancy rules and other workers’ rights.

So come on let’s support the Bill and visit the campaign website at www.StopFireAndRehire.org follow it on Instagram and Facebook and tell your friends about fire and rehire.  

Next Trades Council Meeting 26th November. Priorities for the Election?

The next meeting of the Eastbourne Trades Council will be at 7.30pm, on Tuesday 26th November 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 and matters arising.

4. Treasurer's Report

5. TUC PRIORITIES AND THE GENERAL ELECTION 
The Trades Council is not allowed to support or endorse a specific candidate or party in the election (although some of our individual affiliated Unions can and will.)  We are able to highlight which of our specific campaigns can be lobbied for amongst Eastbourne candidates and any responses we have received. You are encouraged to bring any materials from your union that may inform this item.

6. Other Campaigning Updates

7. Any other business

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

Eastbourne Schools Hit by Funding Cuts!

The updated School Cuts website  shows that Government funding policy for schools means that schools in Eastbourne will be nearly £2.5 million worse off by 2019/20 than they were in 2015/16.

The website, published by the NUT and other school unions, compares each school’s funding in 2015-16 with the funding the Government predicts it will receive in 2019-20 under its proposed new National Funding Formula (NFF), adjusted for the impact of inflation and cost increases imposed on schools. 

Despite reassurances in the Conservative party election manifesto, (and warm words from local MP Caroline Ansell) that school budgets would be protected, this is clearly not the case.  The NFF will simply redistribute existing money across the country, while the Government’s funding freeze and inflation and employer cost increases will cut the value of every school’s funding by almost 10 per cent. The NUT estimates that this combination of a new funding formula and cost increases means that 98% of schools will be worse off in 2019-20. 

The National Audit Office has warned that schools will need to save £3 billion by the end of this Parliament and that they are ill equipped to do this. The latest DfE figures show that 60% of secondary schools are already in deficit.

NUT Divisional Secretary Dave Brinson said: ‘Under this Government’s funding policies, there are no winners, only losers. East Sussex schools are being forced to make decisions that no head teacher should have to make including reducing school staff and teachers, increasing class sizes, and reducing the range of subjects offered simply to balance the book.  This is an unacceptable state of affairs The NUT and ATL will continue campaigning for additional funding, to protect schools and our children’s education"

SECONDARY BUDGET CUTS IN EASTBOURNE BY 2019

PRIMARY BUDGET CUTS IN EASTBOURNE BY 2019

This is based on announced Government Policy on the new school funding formula, and the failure to increase school budgets by inflation.

Per pupil £ cuts are based on the number shown as being on roll at the last DfE School Census

The "Teachers Cut" figure represents the number of teacher jobs based that would, on average, need to be lost to achieve this saving.  

Click here to visit the site, which is supported by NUT, ATL, NAHT, Unison, Unite and GMB.

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 !

Trades Council Meeting: Tuesday 26th January

The next meeting of Eastbourne Trades Council will be on Tuesday 26th 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.

We are pleased to welcome local campaigner Marcie Clarke, from Eastbourne Welcomes Refugees. Marcie was a key organiser for the superb campaign in the town for food and clothing for the camp in Calais, and has recently returned from visiting the camps in person.

THE AGENDA WILL BE:

1. Introductions and apologies for absence
2. Approval of new affiliations.
3. Minutes of previous meeting (November) and matters arising. 
4. Treasurer's Report- Gordon Dyer
5. SPEAKER:  Marcie Clarke from Eastbourne Welcomes Refugees.  We have also invited a speaker on the BMA Junior Doctors Dispute
6. Anti Cuts Campaign: Including preparations for the rally in Eastbourne and the demonstration at County Hall
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 including arrangements for the March AGM

The bar will be open afterwards !

Support the Junior Doctors' Strike !

The British Medical Association is not (yet) affiliated to the TUC, but we are nonetheless proud to offer our support and solidarity to them in their contract dispute with the Secretary of State for Health. Dr Yannis Gourtsoyannis, Member of BMA Junior Doctors Committee National Executive writes:

Junior Doctors across England will be commencing industrial action on Tuesday 12th January. We are opposing this government’s attempt to impose an unsafe new contract on the medical profession. It is our view that the proposed contract represents an existential danger to the NHS as an institution.

You may be aware that the BMA had initially suspended its planned industrial action at the start of December and returned to talks with the Department of Health. That decision was made in good faith. However, over the last few weeks, in the course of negotiations with Government we have encountered only intransigence. It is clear that the government perceives our contract issue as pivotal for its attempt to “reform” the NHS towards a neoliberal, commercialised system. It is therefore evident to us that we have no choice but to transform our 98% ballot mandate into action. The developments of the next few months will have consequences stretching far into the future. This government is wilfully putting at risk our patients' safety, the tolerability of our working lives as NHS workers and the very viability of the NHS as a publicly-funded, publicly-provided service.

Why we need YOU

The coming period will be the ultimate test of the BMA’s resolve as a Union. However, we remain mindful of the fact that the BMA is not an abstract entity operating in isolation from wider political developments. There is no way that we can win this on our own. We need all concerned citizens, activists and trade unionists to stand alongside us in this fight. Over the last few months we have been in dialogue with many trade unionists throughout the country and we have been enormously grateful for their support both at a local and national level. The public messages of support from our allied health worker colleagues, the firefighters, the teaching unions and the TUC and TUCG unions have galvanised junior doctors. We are therefore well aware that all eyes are upon us and that the institutions which represent the wider working class stand with us in solidarity.

We are in no doubt that Osborne, Cameron and Hunt will use the proposed doctor’s contract as a tool for achieving the destruction of safe terms and conditions throughout the NHS and throughout the public sector. The Conservative Party is attempting to stretch the NHS into an ostensibly 7-day elective service whilst simultaneously launching the biggest assault on NHS resources in its history. The politics of austerity represents a clear and present danger to the nation’s health.

A victory for the Junior Doctors would signify the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK. Please stand with us. And when you need us, ask us. We will stand by you.

On behalf of the entire BMA we thank you all for your incredible support so far. Many of you will have seen the details with regards to the planned action and I will reiterate them below. We invite you to come out and display your visible support for us on
the days of action.

• The action will begin with an emergency care-only model, which would see junior doctors provide the same level of service that happens in their given specialty, hospital or GP practice on Christmas Day. It will then escalate to full walk-outs. The action as proposed is:   Emergency care only — 24 hrs from 8am Tuesday 12 January to 8am Wednesday 13 January;   Emergency care only — 48 hrs from 8am Tuesday 26th January to 8am Thursday 28 January;  Full withdrawal of labour — from 8am to 5pm Wednesday 10th February
• The aim is to picket all major hospitals in England on all three days of proposed action. Pickets will be in the vicinity of the main entrances and will start at 8am, continuing until at least 12.30pm. However, many picket sites will continue into the evening, especially at the larger hospitals.
• Along with the pickets there will be parallel “Meet the Doctors” events at nearby transport stops or public spaces. We will direct you to these events from the picket.
• Please turn up on the days of action, and give us your support. We will then inform you if other local events are planned on the day. If you are an allied health worker, trade unionist or campaigner please do consider bringing along the banner representing your organisation, your working uniform or similar. We would appreciate it however if banners in explicit endorsement of specific political parties are not displayed and that any selling of campaign literature such as newspapers is relatively discreet.
• On the days of action, please do debate us, educate us and invite us to address your colleagues in your workplace or trade union branch.

We will update you on specific arrangements for Eastbourne DGH as we are informed of them.

It's (REAL) Living Wage Week !

Living Wage Week is a UK-wide celebration of the Living Wage and Living Wage Employers.

This year Living Wage Week begins on Sunday 1 November and runs to Saturday 7 November.
The week sees accredited Living Wage Employers across the country celebrate their commitment to the Living Wage.

The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. It is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ for the UK. Decisions about what to include in this standard are set by the public; it is a social consensus about what people need to make ends meet.

Don't buy into the George Osborne dishonest talk of the new "living wage": the real Living Wage is independently calculated based on EVIDENCE !:

Living Wage Foundation Director, Rhys Moore explains: "The Living Wage is a robust calculation that reflects the real cost of living, rewarding a hard day’s work with a fair day’s pay."

New research reveals that almost six million people (23% of the working population) are paid less than the living wage. This is nearly half a million more than last year and an increase for the third year in a row – up from 21% in 2013 and 22% in 2014.

Next Trades Council Meeting: 21st July

The next meeting of Eastbourne Trades Council will be on Tuesday 21st July, 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 (May) and matters arising.

4. Treasurer's Report- Gordon Dyer (Gordon has sent apologies due to the change of date. A written report will be available)

5. Campaigning over the Summer: Update on the TUC's campaigns, the development of the People's Assembly in Eastbourne, and other priorities for union campaigning over the summer.

6.  Update on East Sussex County Association of Trades Councils

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.

8. Autumn Newsletter

9. Any other business.

The bar will be open afterwards !  This is likely to be a relatively short meeting, as there is no speaker.

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 !

Trades Council Meeting: Tuesday January 13th

The next meeting of Eastbourne Trades Council will be on Tuesday 13th 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 new affiliations.

3. Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

4. Treasurer's Report- Gordon Dyer

5. TUC Plan of Work for Trades Councils: including what we prioritise in the General Election period, and links with other Trades Councils in East Sussex. Dave Brinson to lead on this item

6. Health Campaigns update- following on from item 5. Save the DGH, GMB campaign and others.

7.  Arrangements for the AGM, including speaker, and nominations for the Len Caine Award

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 !

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 !

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.

July 11th- Eastbourne on Strike

Eastbourne trade unionists joined over a million colleagues in strike action, against the attacks on pay, conditions and pensions from the coalition Government.

The majority of schools  in Eastbourne were either fully closed, or severely limited, as NUT teachers joined support staff from Unison and GMB.  PCS members walked out at the DWP/Job Centre, local government staff from Unison and GMB took action- with picket lines at St Mark and St Mary's House, and firefighters at Eastbourne Fire Station took action against absurd proposals to make them work to 60 (or be sacked on medical grounds before)

Representatives from Eastbourne Trades Council proudly carried our banner in a mass march in Brighton and Hove, where over 3,000 people took to the streets.

ALL OUT on July 10th

Teachers from NUT, School and Local Government staff from Unison, Unite and GMB, Civil Servants from PCS and Firefighters from the FBU will be taking strike action for pay, conditions and workload on Thursday.

Most schools in Eastbourne will be partially or fully closed, and there will be picket lines on the ESCC buildings at St Mary's and St Marks' House from Unison. Services at Eastbourne Borough Council and the Job Centre will be severely disrupted, and Eastbourne Fire Station will be closed.

Public servants do not take strike action lightly: we came into these jobs because we believe in public service. However, the assault on our jobs at the hands of this coalition government cannot continue.

The 1% pay increase after three years of pay freeze (when bills are rising: that was year on year of real terms CUTS) has hit public servants harder than the average in the private sector.

Pension hikes and the extension of retirement ages threaten the spectre of firefighters, teachers and frontline staff working into their 60's, or being sacked on health grounds after years of dedicated service.

Thousands of jobs (yes, including front line jobs) have been slashed in the most essential services.  Civil servants have been bullied into "sanctioning" claimants who are entitled to support, on the most spurious technicalities.

Eastbourne trades unionists will be on the picket line on Thursday morning, followed by mass rallies in Brighton (over 2,000 expected to march) and Hastings. Show them your support !

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"