TUC on a two-week tour of England to uncover austerity and its impact on communities

date: 12 June 2013

embargo: op note - not for publication or broadcast

For two weeks this month the TUC's Austerity Uncovered bus will be visiting communities in towns and cities across England to reveal more about the true impact government economic policy is having upon ordinary people and their families.

Starting out in Dudley in the West Midlands on Monday 17 June, the special liveried white and red double-decker Austerity Uncovered bus will then head to 20 English towns and cities finishing up on Saturday 29 June in Weston-super-Mare in North Somerset.

At each stop, people will be invited to talk about their personal experiences of austerity for possible inclusion in a documentary film the TUC has commissioned about the tour.

They will also be asked if they'd like to send messages to the government about how the combination of spending cuts, changes to benefits and falling wages is affecting them as well as their families and friends.

As the TUC's Austerity Uncovered bus crosses the country, it will visit food banks, unemployed centres, charities and voluntary organisations that have had their funding cut, companies where jobs are at risk, colleges where students have lost the educational maintenance allowance, hospitals, and a host of other organisations affected by the cuts.

TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady will join the bus on the Liverpool leg of the tour, along with UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis and the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson. Together with young people affected by the cuts, the three will take part in a photo opportunity while the bus is parked up near the Liverpool Echo Arena at 8.45am on Wednesday 19 June (further details to follow).

The Wales TUC and Scottish TUC are also hiring buses for their own Austerity Uncovered tours, which will run in parallel with the TUC one.

As part of the TUC campaign against austerity, Unite and a number of unions have also chartered two People United buses this month which between them plan to visit over 30 towns and cities in England.

Both People United buses will start out from the People's Assembly event in London on Saturday 22 June - at which Frances O'Grady is speaking - and then will head off in different directions, meeting up again at Trafford Hospital on Friday 5 July.

The full itinerary of the TUC's Austerity Uncovered bus is:

Monday 17 June Dudley

Tuesday 18 June Cannock

Wednesday 19 June Liverpool

Thursday 20 June Salford, Manchester and Carlisle

Friday 21 June Newcastle, Sunderland and Stockton on Tees

Saturday 22 June Sheffield

Sunday 23 June Halifax and Calderdale

Monday 24 June Nottingham

Tuesday 25 June Northampton, Corby and Kettering

Wednesday 26 June Luton

Thursday 27 June Reading

Friday 28 June Swindon

Saturday 29 June Weston-super-Mare

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Media are welcome to accompany the bus on any of the days, please contact the press office to arrange.

-More detail on each of the locations to be visited by the TUC bus will be available from the TUC's regional offices, as well as from the Wales TUC and the Scottish TUC.

- You can follow the Austerity Uncovered bus on Twitter @austeritybus or find out more information on the bus' whereabouts at www.austerityuncovered.org

- More information on People United events can be found http://thepeopleunited.co.uk/

- The TUC's campaign plan can be downloaded from www.tuc.org.uk/campaignplan

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Alex Rossiter T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07887 572130 E: arossiter@tuc.org.uk