THERE IS NO U-TURN! Suffolk Council's u-turn announcement is nothing of the sort. Long-term stable funding for the 9 arts organisations currently supported by the Council is still facing a 100% cut. The Council's new announcement is for a one off pot of funding open to anyone, forcing arts organisations to compete against each other, for a smaller cake cut into many slices and causing uncertainty. The Council has confirmed that once this one-off pot has run out, they will still not fund any arts budget. ===== Equity members, local residents, arts and cultural organisations across East Anglia have raised serious concerns following a proposed £528,000 cut to arts and culture funding by Suffolk County Council. The nine organisations affected cover the whole county and include: Suffolk Artlink, the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, the Food Museum in Stowmarket and The Long Shop Museum in Leiston, New Wolsey Theatre, DanceEast and Eastern Angles in Ipswich, Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury and FirstLight Festival in Lowestoft. While these cuts represent a tiny fraction of the council's need to save £64.7 million, they will have a disproportionate impact on Suffolk residents who rely on the arts and culture for employment and the wider community engaged with the vital support provided by these organisations across the county. Companies like Eastern Angles and New Wolsey Theatre tour schools and special educational needs settings providing performances and workshops for children. Suffolk Artlink delivers services to diverse communities including children at risk and vulnerable adults, contributing to Suffolk County Council's strategic priorities. The Food Museum in Stowmarket, which has a national reputation for its community work, but now faces a 13% cut to its core funding. Together these organisations provide hundreds of jobs, support the local economy and provide thousands of hours of engagement for children and adults who need it in Suffolk. They do not deserve to lose access to culture. Sign our petition to oppose these 100% cuts now.

Cardiff Council workers are providing vital public services that our communities rely on every single day. They are the key workers who kept the Capital going throughout the pandemic. Their value to the Capital City and County of Cardiff should be recognised by a pay offer that allows them to feed and clothe their families without having to resort to foodbanks or handouts. It is unacceptable council workers are bearing the brunt of the cuts to local government budgets! It is unacceptable that the Council has not engaged with the Union's Representative's to bring an end to the dispute and give it's workers a fair pay rise.

Brighton University claims it respects the role of the recognised trade unions to represent and negotiate for its employees. But by attacking UCU reps, the University is declaring war on the union. They are clearly signalling that they no longer want to negotiate with union reps on equal terms. They want to create a climate in which staff are too fearful to stand up for themselves, let alone to stand for a union position. What could follow is the unilateral replacement of all the agreements governing lecturers’ and researchers’ terms and conditions with new arrangements imposed by them. Managers everywhere will be rubbing their hands with glee if they can get away with this here. The future of Brighton UCU is at stake. If we want our union membership to mean something concrete, we all need to defend union branches under attack. Our Vice Chancellor and her crew of lackeys would love nothing more than to decapitate our UCU branch. They want to rule through fear and intimidation with no resistance. We need to stand up in defence of our elected reps. Please sign our petition of support and ask your branch to donate to our hardship fund here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/brightonunistrike

Northern Ballet’s funding hasn’t changed much since 2015. In the biggest cost of living crisis for decades with inflation hitting record highs, that’s a significant real terms funding cut. As a result, musicians’ jobs are on the line. World-class orchestra musicians working for an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation should not have to rely on foodbanks to survive. It is essential that Arts Council England and Northern Ballet agree a realistic funding solution that protects union jobs and enables everyone to have access to live ballet that is genuinely live. Please sign the petition and leave a message of support for the musicians in Northern Ballet's orchestra

Until 1986, South Yorkshire was renowned for its cheap and reliable bus services. The result was simple: families didn't need a car. Since deregulation fares have risen, services have been cut, and reliability declined. The result: fewer job opportunities, restricted access to education and training, thousands of missed hospital appointments and reduced opportunities for leisure pursuits especially in the evenings and on Sundays. People with limited mobility are less likely to venture out. Young people are meeting virtually instead of in person and shrinking their horizons. The viability of businesses and communities is threatened. 30% of our population have no access to a private vehicle. If we are serious about levelling up, we must provide a reliable bus service. The climate emergency requires a major shift to public transport. Things must not continue on this downward spiral. Other city regions have received millions of pounds to protect and improve bus services. South Yorkshire received nothing. Westminster leaders have the money and power to make this happen. Please sign up to demand fair funding now.

Northern Rail has sub-contracted work on the gatelines of some of its stations to a private outsourcing company called Carlisle. This means that two people doing similar work can have totally different pay and conditions. Gateline workers who are employed by Carlise, get less pay, no company sick pay, no membership fo the Railways Pension Scheme, no company leisure travel facilities and are employed using highly exploitative zero hours or annualised hours contracts that leave them in a state of perpetual anxiety, fearing that they will lose precious hours of work. In a recent survey, 58% of Carlisle gateline staff reported that they were struggling to make ends meet and every day they face a rising level of violence and abuse at work.

Hundreds of nursing support staff at Warrington and Halton hospitals have been working above their pay grade for years. We are calling on their trust to pay them the wage they deserve and to award back-pay for years of underpayment.

The proposal would see the Zoom Beyond travel pass removed on the 1st November 2023. In just three months, they will take away the ability to afford mobility for thousands of young people in South Yorkshire. Almost 35000 people aged 18-21 use a Zoom Beyond pass in our region. In addition, the Board is planning to raise the concessionary fare from 80p per single journey to £1 per single journey in effect from the start of November. This would reduce the ability for so many children across the region to socialise, go to extracurricular clubs, and would most likely lead to a greater proportion of school students being driven to school in car - increasing congestion, air pollution and further contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. SYMCA is currently looking into a Franchised Bus model - taking power away from the executives of profit-driven private companies like Stagecoach and First and placing more of said power in the hands of the directly elected Mayor. The Trams in Sheffield are already being taken into Public Control (I.e., run directly by SYMCA, and therefore more easily scrutinised) this Autumn, and it is looking like the buses will eventually follow. Due to this, the Combined Authority should instead aim to inherit a bus service with concessionary fares it can be proud of! The budget meeting mentions that if the 80p fare had risen with cumulative inflation from its introduction in 2016, it would be £1.20. That is an exciting thing, though! Even if it draws less profit and costs more as a subsidy, it means that South Yorkshire has one of the lowest fares for those up to the age of 18 in the country, and the lowest fare in the country currently for those up to the age of 21! The neglect of public services in the North of England by the government is a parasite to our progress. Ignorance of the needs of those across South Yorkshire mustn't continue. We deserve a flourishing, integrated transport system - supporting everyone from Thorne to Stocksbridge; one that lends a hand to all young people wanting to study, work, go out, or get about for any reason. We should take pride in the fact we are giving our young people the greatest possible chance to succeed, and we must fight to keep it that way.

Add your name to this petition in support of Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Clinical Support Workers in their campaign for fair pay and recognition.

The state pension age is currently 66 years. It is due to rise to 67 from May 2026, and to 68 from May 2044. However, government ministers have been pushing for this timetable to be sped up, according to media reports. New research by Unite the Union has found that many workers feel they cannot continue working in key roles until state pension age. Over 10,000 Unite members across four key sectors took part in the survey: 86 per cent of health workers do not believe they can mentally continue to undertake their current roles beyond the age of 66, while 83 per cent of them could not physically continue in their roles beyond the same age. 75 per cent of construction workers stated they can’t work physically beyond 66, while 64 per cent said the mental demands of the job would become too much by 66 at the latest. 76 per cent of road haulage and warehouse workers said that they will not be able to physically work beyond 66, while 70 per cent said the mental demand of the job will become too great by that age. 67 per cent of bus and tram workers said the mental demands would become too great by 66, while the job would become too physically demanding by then for 57 per cent of them. These findings show that tens of thousands of workers will be forced out of employment due to the physical and mental demands of their work but will be too young to receive the state pension. *** Join Unite in the fight for dignity in retirement. Join here: https://join.unitetheunion.org/ *** *** Join the National Pensioners Convention, the campaigning organisation for older people in the UK here: https://www.npcuk.org/join-the-npc *** *** Join the Scottish Pensioners Forum here: https://scottishpensioners.org.uk/ ***

Mayor Marvin Rees' decision to delay all funding decisions for Arts Organisations funded by Bristol City Council will have hugely damaging consequences for one of the most important industries in the city's economy, and is totally at odds with his One City Approach for Culture launched in June this year. When the Mayor launched his One City Plan 2023 in June, he wrote "Bristol’s culture is internationally recognised for its creativity, vibrancy, diversity, history and innovation across many mediums such as art, theatre, dance, music, TV and film and architecture." But Bristol's reputation and success as a film and TV hub exists in the same ecosystem as the rest of the creative sector in the city and cannot be separated from its live performance industry which is now at risk from this delay in funding decisions. Instead of being told about funding decisions in October 2022, as planned, Arts Organisations and major cultural events will now have to wait until March 2024 to find out how much money they’ll receive – or if they’ll receive any money at all. This is only a month before the grant period starts and will mean organisations can’t plan for the future – leading to loss of work, income and closures in the interim. The Mayor’s claim that he will give the final decision to an ‘independent panel’ about which the he has given no information on the membership or what new process will need to be followed to apply. Mayor Rees has offered no trade union consultation to the relevant culture unions, whilst simultaneously the Mayor’s office have sidelined the Culture Board, a body the Mayor created, which is the only consultative culture body that exists in the city. These less then transparent delays and possible cuts will disproportionately impact working class creative workers, and those from minority and oppressed groups. It will have social and cultural implications for all the large Arts organisations in the city and smaller one off artistic projects that work in local communities, from parent and baby groups and schools, to festivals and live events. Leaving access to the arts only to those who can afford it. Bristol is a fair, healthy and sustainable city. A city of hope and aspiration, where everyone can share in its success. All of this enabled by Culture, which Mayor Rees is placing at risk with his intervention and reckless decision to delay. We demand that Mayor Marvin Rees restore our arts funding. No delays, no cuts, and no more decision-making from non-transparent 'independent' panels. Image credit: crabchick from Bristol, England; Bristol City Hall at night https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bristol_Council_House_at_night_(2693195473).jpg

You should support us because further education is a crucial part of the economy which is about providing bridges into employment for young people and adults. If you believe that further education is worth fighting for, then we urge you to support our pay claim in order to support high quality teachers to stay in the profession. Further education also has a crucial role to play in the just transition to decarbonise jobs and train people for the future jobs market and therefore needs to attract workers from a wide set of industries with better pay, so we can provide the best educational experience students deserve.