Unite’s ‘Big Society’ road show comes to an end on Wednesday 20
July with the delivery to Downing Street of four massive
anniversary cards, crammed full of hundreds of furious messages to
prime minister David Cameron.
Downing Street photo-call of voluntary sector
workers
When: Wednesday 20 July, 12pm
Where: Downing Street, London SW1A
The trip to Downing Street of Unite voluntary sector workers
ends a two-week road show which has taken in Dorset in the South
West, Liverpool, Durham and London. The event culminated yesterday
evening with a mass rally in central London outside the Houses of
Parliament.
Thousands of people have shared their stories which have exposed
the true scale of the devastation being wrought by the government’s
cuts to communities across the country in the year since the prime
minister launched his so-called ‘Big Society’.
Cameron launched his ‘Big Society’ a year ago (19 July 2010) to
great fanfare, but during the past year, his government has
snatched a staggering £4.4 billion from the voluntary sector –
services are being slashed, jobs cut and charities have been left
struggling to survive.
Sally Kosky, Unite national officer for the not for profit
sector, said: “The stories of the thousands of people who took the
time to respond to us should serve as a wake up call to David
Cameron and his ministers, but instead he continues to turn a blind
eye to the devastation his cuts are causing to millions of people
throughout the country.
“The prime minister’s idea of the ‘Big Society’ is an insult to
the hundreds of thousands of voluntary sector workers who keep our
elderly safe, our disabled supported, the young off the streets and
give a voice to the most marginalised in society.
“Cameron and his millionaires' cabinet need to stop hiding
behind ever more elaborate cost-cutting gimmicks and face up to the
fact that there can be no volunteers without a voluntary sector
with professional staff to underpin its structure.”
Unite the union, which has 60,000 members in the not for profit
sector, is calling on the government to give back the £4.4 billion
it has taken from the sector.
ENDS
For more information please contact Chantal Chegrinec, Unite
press office, 07774 146 777
For information on the union’s Unite for our Society campaign
please visit www.uniteforoursociety.org
