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

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.

It's FAIR PAY Fortnight !

Working people in the UK are seeing their living standards squeezed harder and harder every year. The cost of energy, food and housing is soaring but wages aren’t keeping up.

6.1 MILLION people in working households are living in poverty. This means that (excluding pensioners) there are more working households in poverty than there are workless households !

Full time workers have lost on average over £4,000 in wages since 2009 and while jobs may be returning to the economy, they’re increasingly low paid, low hours and low security.

Eastbourne has many workers who are employed in low-wage and zero-hours contracts. Eastbourne definitely needs a pay rise !
 

Eastbourne has many workers employed in the social care sector.  According to Unison, there are 220,000 care workers paid less than the minimum wage (usually through employer fiddles that falsely calculate 'working' hours)  Find out more about their campaign, and sign the petition here.

Watch the TUC's animation highlighting the every day challenges faced by millions of people hit by the cost of living crisis below.

 

 

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"