For two weeks the Trades Union Congress (TUC) 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 tomorrow (17 June 2013), 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 near the Liverpool Echo Arena at 8.45am on Wednesday 19 June
The Wales TUC and Scottish TUC are also hiring buses for their own Austerity Uncovered tours, which will run in parallel.
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
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