BRINGITBACK Graveyard Installation to tour the city.
It may be a shocking image, a life-sized gravestone in the middle of a local park, town square, or school playground - but what is truly shocking is what has been taken from our communities through 13 years of austerity and slashed local government funding.
That's why our branch has launched a major new local campaign on budget day by unveiling our graveyard of lost council jobs and services at a photocall outside Brighton Town Hall. Over the coming months the full installation will tour community and public venues across the city, to raise awareness of the impact of local government cuts, and encourage Brighton and Hove Residents to join the fight to bring back adequate funding to our city council.
As Joint Branch Secretary, Corinna Edwards-Colledge says:
“It’s hard to fathom how much our city has lost; the areas of the city that no longer have a free community venue, the young people who can’t get urgent mental health support, the vulnerable adults who no longer have a dedicated service to support them are just the tip of the iceberg. Our graveyard installation of lost jobs and services might shock, but we believe it is vital to help local people understand what has gone and be motivated to join our branch and other campaigners into turning grief into action, and demand restoration of the services we all need and deserve.
“The Labour government is relying on growth to reinvest in the public sector, but our branch and our 4000 members are clear, you get true, sustainable growth by investing in ordinary people and their families; by helping people come out of poverty, be in good health and able to reach their full potential. Our members and the city’s residents need to see the financial crisis our council faces averted through urgent re-investment of the millions that have been taken from our city. We then need to see a long-term plan to help local government and the people it serves thrive again.”
Download the full press release here
What’s next?
Over the coming months we’ll be touring the graveyard around community and public spaces in the city, and inviting you all to come and see it and join the fight to turn our sorrow into services. We’ll post a timetable on this page and share it on social media.
How do I get involved?
Join our Facebook page
Watch this space to find out where and when you can come and see the full installation. Come along and join the conversation about how we get back the services you need and deserve as well as contributing to a new vision of what a well funding and well resourced Brighton and Hove looks like.
Share #BRINGITBACK on social media
Get in touch with your local MP and tell them it’s time to BRINGITBACK and restore funding for local government
BRINGITBACK is a local campaign in Brighton & Hove, to find out more about UNISON’s national campaign against local government cuts, SAVE OUR SERVICES, see below.
Local authorities keep our communities together and protect the most vulnerable. We’re calling on our leaders to end the cuts and save our services.
Libraries are shutting, waste collections are reducing, and social services are shrinking. More and more essential services that we all rely on every day are crumbling away.
Local services need proper funding to ensure their resilience. Right now, even our most basic services are facing cuts as a result of chronic underfunding.
Staff working in local councils are finding their budgets slashed to the bone; after 14 years of constant cuts, there’s not much left. We face the very real risk of the number of councils declaring effective bankruptcy growing rapidly.
We desperately need to save our services.