On Tuesday 60 trade unionists from across all sectors met to discuss how we fight back against job cuts and attacks on terms and conditions.
Gary Hassell of RMT spoke about cuts in track maintenance. He characterised them as cuts in green jobs. How can we be undermining public transport at a time like this? There are also the safety implications. Train cleaners also face being privatised. RMT is going for an industrial action ballot. They deserve all our support.
Jim Guild of lecturers' union UCU talked about the attacks on higher education.
Massive job cuts are being proposed which will drastically reduce access to education. Jim gave solidarity to the student occupation and representatives from the occupation also spoke.
We also heard from Unite reps at Edwards, the factory based in Shoreham and Burgess Hill, which is being closed down. The jobs are going to the Czech Republic and Korea.
The reps from the FBU talked about the threatened closure of Preston Circus fire station. All sorts of ludicrous statements are being dreamt up by management to justify this. Apparently it isn't "central enough" and tenders "struggle to get out". Really it's about costcutting.
Finally Jonathan Neale of the Campaign Against Climate Change drew the links between the crisis and the loss of green jobs.
The meeting was organised by Brighton Trades Council and Unison.
The focus now is on the March for Jobs on 6th March.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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