East Sussex says: SAVE OUR NHS

The Launch meeting of an East Sussex Save the NHS Campaign to unite people, who care about the NHS, across the region covered by East Sussex Healthcare Trust will be held on Monday 9th April.

Our NHS is now suffering its deepest crisis since the birth of the service nearly 70 years ago. Unless we unite to fight against the politics that is creating this crisis we face a bleak future where healthcare will become a luxury and not an automatic right.

This will be a speaker event that will try to explain what is happening right now to our cherished service and what we can do to try and protect it. There is good reason to feel hopeful that a public campaign to fight for local services could be successful. This has already happened in many other areas.

Speakers for the evening will be:

Dr Carl Walker;
Madeleine Dickens from Sussex Defened the NHS,
Lloyd Russell Moyle, Labour and Co-operative MP.

There will be a Q&A session towards the end of the evening.

The meeting will be held in the Central Hall at the View Hotel, where there is disabled access. Doors will open at 6.30pm.   Admission is free, but attendees are asked to register in advance by clicking here. 

It's Young Workers' Month

November is the Trade Union Congress' Young Workers' Month.

Why do we need Young Workers' Month ?

• Presently there are 683,000 people aged 16-24 (or 14.8%) who are looking for and available for work: youth unemployment rate is nearly three times the rate for all workers aged 16+ 
• In 2014 19.6% of young workers were underemployed, more than double the percentage of any other age group. Underemployed workers are those people who have jobs but want to work more hours than they currently do. Young workers have consistently been twice as likely to be underemployed than workers in general, meaning it has become commonplace for them to be trapped in jobs that don’t have enough hours to provide the income they need.
• 255,000 young people (or 6.7%) are in zero hours contracts, meaning that the proportion of people in zero hours contracts is three times higher for young people than the adult population generally.
• Young people’s wages fell disproportionately further than those of older workers during the downturn. Between 2009 and 2014 median hourly earnings for 22-29 year olds (excluding overtime and RPIJ-adjusted) fell by 12.7%, 
• The inevitable consequence of this low pay is young people finding it harder and harder to get by. The most recent figures show that 1 in 5 (22.4%) young people are at risk of poverty.

The National Minimum Wage- introduced in 1998- allows a lower rate for workers under 21.  The Government's wrongly-called "national living wage" coming in next year, will only apply to the over 25's- leaving young workers falling further behind.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Younger workers must be treated fairly. It is wrong to leave 21 to 24 year olds out: they face the same expenses as other adults and are highly productive. Not paying them the full minimum wage will demotivate younger adults, who will get less pay than their colleagues for the same work."

Eastbourne Borough Council- to its shame- takes full advantage of the young worker rates: our freedom of information request showed that during August 2015 47 young staff (6% of the council workforce) were paid less than the minimum wage rate of £6.50 an hour. 

Why Should Young Workers Join a Union ?

Eastbourne: Poverty Pay in the Public Sector !

EASTBOURNE BOROUGH COUNCIL: 42% of staff paid less than Living Wage

EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL: 27% of staff paid less than Living Wage

EAST SUSSEX  HOSPITALS (DGH): 11% of staff paid less than Living Wage. 

As it is Living Wage week, we were keen to look at the situation for workers in Eastbourne. Eastbourne has many staff employed in the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors, all of which have traditionally been low-paid- although Morrisons and Lidl have recently joined the ranks of Living Wage employers. A number of other employers active in Eastbourne have also signed up to the Living Wage foundation's Living Wage accreditation, paying all staff over 18 £8.15 or more. You can read these here

Brighton and Hove City Council is accredited as a Living Wage employer, and Hastings Borough Council pays all of its directly employed staff above the Living Wage rate. So the public sector is setting a good example, yes ?...... Sadly not in Eastbourne !

East Sussex County Council employs a total of 16,200 people (many are part time and/or casual- the full time equivalent is 8,717 )   Of these, a staggering 4,373 were paid below the living wage rate- then £7.85-  in August, that's 27% of the council's workforce.

Eastbourne Borough Council employed 741, and 314 of these were paid less than the living wage. This equates to just over 42% of the council workforce.

Of those, we established that 27 were under 18 (the age at which the Living Wage Foundation expects their accredited employers to pay the Living Wage.)

Shockingly, the Borough Council still takes advantage of the lower rates within the national minimum wage to pay under 21's even less:  47 staff were paid less than the adult national minimum wage of £6,50 !

Perhaps the NHS would be better ?

Sussex Community NHS Trust, the main provider of NHS community health and care services across West Sussex, Brighton & Hove and High Weald, Lewes and Havens area of East Sussex has been paying the Living Wage since 2013. Sussex Partnership NHS Trust which provides services for those with mental health problems, learning disabilities or an addiction to drugs or alcohol have agreed to do the same at Board Level and are currently looking at the logistics around implementation.

As for the good old East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Eastbourne DGH- not such good news..... as we reported earlier, of a total workforce of 7314 across the trust (including the Conquest Hopsital in Hastings) 790 people were paid less than the Living Wage: around 11% of the workforce.

Trades Council secretary, Dave Brinson recalls: "I was in a meeting a couple of years ago, when an official of the Borough council berated me for suggesting that the town was a 'low wage' economy, This would seem to prove a point- and the Borough Council itself is at the forefront of perpetuating it !"

Source for EBC and ESCC information: FoI request by Dave Brinson, covering August pay period. Source for NHS information, FoI request by Unison. 

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.

Save our Fire Services

Please see below a letter from our FBU colleagues who are fighting cuts in our local Fire service. You can find out more from their campaign site by clicking here


Dear Local Trade Union Members,

　
I am contacting you on behalf of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to inform you about proposed cuts to your Fire and Rescue Service.　 The East Sussex Chief Fire Officer has agreed to make £7.1 million of savings. His proposals are to achieve these savings by cutting front-line emergency services.　 By cutting fire fighters, cutting numbers of fire engines and closing fire stations.　
　

One of the proposals is to cut a fire engine from the City of Brighton and Hove. Reducing the number of fire engines within the City from five to four will lead to slower response times, less personnel, less equipment and fewer home and school fire safety visits.　 This will leave potentially just 16 firefighters protecting 250,000 residents and the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit each year.　 These proposed cuts will cost lives.　 Even East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service's own management team recognise this!　 These cuts must not be allowed to go ahead.　
　

Savings must not be made by putting the public and firefighters lives at risk.　 The decision whether to accept these proposals and make these cuts lies with a group of elected councillors, 6 from Brighton and Hove and 12 from East Sussex County Council, who constitute East Sussex Fire Authority.　 These councillors are elected by you, the local residents, and they want to hear your views before making a final decision in June 2014.

　The FBU are asking union members members to support our campaign to protect front-line services across East Sussex. To find out more about proposed cuts in your local area please visit our website at http://saveeastsussexfireservice.co.uk/. You can also find links to our campaign’s Facebook group, Twitter feed, and petition on 38degrees.
　

Please sign the petition and tell them NO! Ask the Fire Authority to instruct East Sussex Chief Fire Officer to make necessary budgetary savings without cutting fire fighter numbers, closing fire stations and cutting fire engines. Savings can be made by sharing services and back office staff, improving procurement, and by sharing of principle management and staff.　 The Service should look to voluntary amalgamations between services and to utilise reserves to offset savings.
　

The FBU are organising public meetings (details below) to give you the opportunity to ask questions.　 Please make every effort to attend and voice your opinions about the proposals.

　

Strength in Unity,
Jake Kaye
FBU Branch Secretary (Preston Circus Station)
Our nearest public meeting will be the
Brighton and Hove Public Meeting, Brighthelm Centre, 29^th May 2014,  19:30 onwards.

Solidarity with the NUT in Hastings

As you may have heard, NUT members at William Parker Sports College in Hastings will be taking strike action tomorrow, in protest at their transfer to the ARK Academy chain, which does not recognise School Teachers Pay and Conditions.

While Hastings is not in our Trades Council area, a number of members live in Eastbourne- and the actions of East Sussex County Council in this saga do not bode well for trade unionists in Eastbourne schools !   While only NUT are taking tomorrow's action,  all of the TUC-affiliated unions in the school (NASUWT, ATL, UNISON and GMB) are firmly opposed to Academy status, and the way that East Sussex have imposed the ARK chain without any debate or consultation with staff, unions, parents or the local community.

(ARK, incidentally was set up by hedge fund managers, and run by a board of trustees including fund managers, bankers, the Tory Party treasurer and a former News International executive.)

The NUT  had productive talks with East Sussex County Council and ARK last week, and were willing to postpone the strike action to allow for further talks. Under trade union law, this would have required the employer to request an extension to the negotiation time.  EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL REFUSED, ON AT LEAST THREE OCCASIONS, TO TAKE UP THIS OFFER.  

 

If the county believe that they can call members' bluff over this, they are sorely mistaken. Members gave a 100% yes vote for action, and are angry at the intransigence of the County Council.

Messages of solidarity can be sent via Dave Brinson, East Sussex NUT Division Secretary.  The campaign has a website where these will be displayed alongside other information about the dispute.  View the site here.

Lobby: Opposing cuts by East Sussex County Council

Lewes Stop the Cuts has vowed to campaign against cuts proposed by East Sussex County Council, starting with a lobby of the council meeting at County Hall in Lewes on Tuesday 12 February.  It is inviting individuals and organisations across the county to join in.

 

The lobby will meet at the entrance to County Hall between 9 am and 9.45 on the 12^th - Can you come?

 

East Sussex is facing huge cuts to services for the most vulnerable: children with special needs, disabled people, victims of domestic violence, older people, young people at risk, young parents and the homeless will all lose support or vital services. An estimated 100 jobs under threat (figures from BBC report),

 

We intend to do all we can to fight these proposals.  The council wants to save £60 million over 3 years.

 

But they are  sitting on £473m in reserves, (as of March 2012) and LSTC argues that some of these reserves should be used to fund any shortfall due to the coalition government’s draconian and unjust cuts. The council has also just committed about £40 million on the polluting Bexhill/Hastings link road.

 

The Cuts in Detail:

 

Adult Social Care: Older People

●     Day services ’decommissioned’, with assessed needs and residential services needs to be met from private sector.

●     End of Handyperson Grant Scheme, a universal grant for over 65s of up to £200.

●     Reduced support for community services and personal care budgets.

 

Adult Social Care: Working Age Adults

●     Community based services to focus on personal care rather than activities of daily living, reducing the range of activities available.

●     Reduced support for personal budgets

 

Universal Services

●     Reduction in training for staff

●     Strategy and Commissioning staff reductions in 2015/16

●     Special Needs Housing Officers to be made redundant

●     Housing support for vulnerable older people cut by 15% by 2015/16

●     Young Parent Services - loss of 1 of 3 accommodation based services. Loss of night services and on site support for individuals in crisis.

●     Young people at Risk - removal of an intensive service for young homeless people or those leaving care

●     Supported Accommodation and Independent Living - cut by 15%

●     Offenders and complex homeless support - cut pilot scheme by 15%

●     Domestic Violence Refuges - cut from 5 to 4

●     Mental health and Homeless Services - closure of 1 accommodation based service.

 

Special Education Needs and Disability

●     Reduction of agency foster care, leading to more residential care and closure of respite unit.

●     Cut after school clubs and play schemes

 

Children’s Social Care

●     Reduced in house capacity for residential care

 

Learning and Schools Effectiveness

●     Reduced universal service in Childrens Centres

●     Reduce Secondary Behaviour Support service

●     Reduce Targeted Youth Service (community group work, 1:1, CAMHS and substance misuse)

●     Reduce number of qualified teachers in Childrens Centres, and services targeted towards supporting vulnerable young parents.

●     Reduce funding for Standards and Learning Effectiveness (SLES) support to schools

●     Remove inclusion bursary to support disabled children to access childcare and early years provision.

●     Reduce Youth Offending team

●     2.5% increase in charges for traded services

●     Removal of transport support for parents of post 16 SEN young people except for nearest school

 

Transport

●     Reduce Road safety education and contribution to Sussex Safer Roads Partnership

 

Community Services

●     Libraries - reduce staffing and  book stock budget.

●     Arts - removal of Grant Aid Budget to match fund external organisations 

 

 

For more information contact:  LSTC media officer Chris Smith 01273 474070 (office hours)   079015 33876 (mobile) or email chris.smith@hbhelp.co.uk

 

Lewes Stop the Cuts is a non party campaign group opposed to cuts in public services affecting Lewes.  It has over 450 supporters who are sent regular updates.  To subscribe visit our website at http://lewesstopthecuts

New Year- New General Secretary !

Click to read the new year message and priorities from the newly elected General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Frances O'Grady.

Standing up for Jobs and Education

NUT and NASUWT members took solidly-supported strike action over proposed job cuts at Sussex Downs College last week.

While the Unions welcome progress that has been made through negotiations with SDC management to reduce the number of redundancies, members still face significant cuts in hours.

The unions warn that cuts may lead to increased workload for  members, higher class sizes and less teaching time for students. They are bad for NUT and NASUWT members and bad for education.

Division Secretary of the East Sussex NUT, Dave Brinson explained:

"We are calling on SDC management to take urgent further action to avoid job reductions and losses. However we recognise that significant blame lies with recent savage Government policy towards post-16 education:

·         Independent research published recently (by the Institute for Fiscal Studies) has provided details of the impact of the cuts on the post-16 sector.  Sixth form funding will be cut by 17.6 per cent in real terms over the period to 2014.

·         The Government’s cuts come at a time when the increase in the education participation age to 18 will put additional pressure on individual colleges.  The increase in the participation age must be fully funded – instead the Government is cutting 16-19 funding in an attempt to implement increased participation on the cheap !

·         The abolition of the EMA has affected student numbers, as it has deterred many potential students from lower-income backgrounds"

The strike mainly involved teachers at the former Park College, where most staff were NUT and NASUWT members. The rest of Sussex Downs College is organised by the UCU Lecturers union, who are also in dispute with the college over cuts, but did not take strike action this week.

Eastbourne striking for Fair Pensions

Workers in Eastbourne will be taking strike action in defence of their pensions this Thursday.

Across the public sector schemes, the Government is demanding that front line staff work longer (to 68), pay more (a 50% increase in pension contributions), and get less through “career averaged” schemes, linked to the inferior CPI measure of inflation.

In Eastbourne, the PCS Civil Servants' union will be mounting a picket line at the DWP Job Centre Plus in St Anne’s Road, and members will also be taking action at other civil service sites in the town. They will be joined by Unite the Union members in the NHS, and by the UCU lecturers’ union at Sussex Downs College.

Members of the striking unions will be marching and rallying- with a demonstration in Brighton, and, nearest to Eastbourne, a march from Hastings Pier at 11.00am, organised by our brothers and sisters in the Hastings Trades Council.

Colleagues in the Police Federation, the Prison Officers' Union POA and the National Association of Probation Officers will be staging a national demonstration over pensions on the same day.

Teachers in NUT and NASUWT remain in dispute with the Government over pensions. The NASUWT has a current "work to contract" action in schools, and both Unions are expected to announce dates for strike action imminently.

 The PCS union explains the reasons for the strike:-

"The government want PCS members to:

·         Pay more – Extra pension contributions have been imposed for most civil servants –with further increases planned for the next two years.

·         Work longer – Civil service retirement is now linked to the state pension age – that’s already rising to 68 and the government says it will get higher.

·         Get less – Changes to indexation from RPI to the lower CPI inflation mean pensions fall by 15 to 20%.

And a two-year pay freeze is to be followed by 1% rises. New regional pay plans mean that everyone outside London might face further cuts.

We can’t afford not to.

Civil servants and other public sector workers are uniting to defend everything we have worked for. The government is:

·         Making civil servants pay up to three times as much for smaller pensions after working up to eight more years – or even longer.

·         Freezing wages while prices are soaring

The latest scheme is regional pay – which would mean wage cuts for everyone outside London. The strike is your chance to take a stand with colleagues from across government departments and with other trade unions across the public services.We are demanding real negotiations with the government, not imposed cuts.

Who else is involved?

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers across the civil service, the health service and education will be joining the 10 May walkout."

You can find out more from PCS about the strike by clicking here

You can find more from lecturers' union UCU by clicking here

You can find out more about the Unite the Union health action by clicking here.

Local Bargaining in the Public Sector- why Eastbourne should worry !

The TUC has produced a discussion paper in response to the Chancellor's announcements, and the Wolf report, on local pay in public services. This should be a major concern to all trade unionists, especially in Eastbourne's relatively "low wage" (for the region) economy !

The Chancellor has asked the public sector pay review bodies to look at how public sector pay can be made “more responsive to local labour markets. It is clear that the Government thinks that public sector pay is too high in some part of the country and it is argued that:

“Public and private sector organisations compete for employees in different markets across the UK. However, while private sector pay is set in accordance with local labour markets, public sector pay is usually set on a national basis. As a result, in many areas, public sector pay does not reflect local labour market conditions.
Differences between public and private sector pay can adversely affect private sector businesses which have to compete with higher public sector wages. It also leads to unfair variations in public sector service quality and limits the number of jobs that the public sector can support.”

The TUC counters that public sector pay supports local economies. The Government's view takes no account of the part that public sector wages play in supporting the less well-off regions and nations of the UK. For example, the North East has both the lowest wages and the highest unemployment in England. It would simply not be credible to argue that the public sector was “crowding-out” private sector jobs in the poorest regions and nations.

Rather, reducing public sector wages in struggling areas would be certain to lead to fewer jobs, as a further fall in consumer spending would drive more private sector enterprises out of business. The failure of these enterprises would then cause f ripple effects. Economists estimate that this doubles the impact of any public sector wage cut.

According to the ONS Labour Force Survey, average public sector pay varies by 10.4 per cent between the regions and nations of the UK . It is most likely that public sector pay would fall furthest in the poorest parts of the UK.

The TUC estimates the regional effect of cutting public sector pay by just one per cent for the 908,000 public employees in the South East Region would have the effect of cutting £231 Million from the local economy- with devastating knock-on effect across both public and private sector workers.

In summary — the main arguments against "local pay" in public services:

• Bad for local economies



• Long-winded and inefficient



• Bad for equalities — particularly affects women.



• Will worsen public services in poorer areas



• Will not improve public services in well—off areas