BADACA Bulletin – 27/07/12
By admin | July 30, 2012 | Categories: Weekly Bulletin
BRISTOL & DISTRICT ANTI-CUTS ALLIANCE BULLETIN – 27th July 2012
Bristol’s Social Care Service – The Fight Goes On
Last night, predictably, the LibDem cabinet of Bristol city council gave the go-ahead to close and privatise the remaining council-run care homes and day centres for the elderly and vulnerable. They did this in the face of fierce opposition from over 100 people who had gathered outside the Council House before the meeting. These included care home residents, day centre users, families of these service users, trades unionists and community groups, all angry that the council was threatening these vital services. Everyone there was clear that these were cuts that the council was carrying out on behalf of the government. While billions are paid out to bankers and fat-cats, the elderly & vulnerable pay the price. Full report here. Photos here. Video here.
In the meeting, speakers from BADACA, GMB and Unison along with the families of service users outlined the reality of these cuts and called on councillors to reject them. The BADACA petition calling for the retention of the council-run service, and a similar Unison one, had attracted far more support than any of the ‘options’ offered in the council ‘consultation’.
Many of the public left the meeting before the proposals were approved. They could see that the LibDems were intent on voting them through. Any consultation and public input into the process was a sham. Only a concerted campaign among trades unions, community groups, service users & their families can prevent these closures and privatisations being implemented. The level of opposition demonstrated last night makes this possible. BADACA will be part of this campaign. As part of this there will be meeting on Tuesday 31st July at 3pm in the Watershed Cafe/Bar. All welcome to plan the next steps in defence of these services. If you can’t get to that meeting but want to get involved please email admin@bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk. Look for more details of this campaign next week.
Last week, we featured plans for a Tax Olympics to highlight the tax exemptions given to major multinational sponsors of the Olympic Games. Since then, under extreme pressure, several of these sponsors have announced they won’t use these exemptions. Others are expected to follow suit. In the light of this, plans for the Tax Olympics have been shelved. However, we will be returning to the issue of tax evasion in coming months. Olympics or no Olympics, most of these companies and others pay little or no tax, while the government introduces swingeing cuts to jobs, services and benefits. This cannot be allowed to go on.
Please help us to distribute the new edition of BADACA’s NHS pamphlet as widely as possible. It’s available online here. You can get printed copies by emailing admin@bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk.
More details will be available soon about the TUC’s‘A Future That Works’ demonstration on Saturday October 20th. Over the next few months we all need to do everything possible to make this a huge demonstration against the government’s economic policy – Put the date in your diary now and watch out for more details as they become available. Facebook here. Information on TUC website here.
The National Union of Students is also organising a national demonstration against fees, cuts and privatisation on November 21st. Full details soon. Current information is on Facebook here.
Please try to get involved in as many of the activities below as possible and pass the information on to others who may be interested
If you want more information about anything below, email admin@bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk
More information on BADACA and events can be found at our website www.bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk and via the link to Facebook from there
Twitter – http://twitter.com/BrisNoCuts.
If you have events you would like included in a future bulletin please email details to admin@bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk. Our aim is to send out a bulletin every Friday. The deadline for inclusion of events is 5pm on Thursday.
Defend Council-Run Care Homes & Day Centres – Tuesday 31st July
Come along to the Watershed Cafe/Bar at 3pm to discuss building the campaign to defend council-run care homes and day centres. All welcome. If you want to get involved but can’t get to this meeting please email admin@bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk
BADACA Steering Committee Meeting – Monday 13th August
Papers will be sent out to affiliated organisations and other members of the steering committee soon. For more information email admin@bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk
BADACA Admin
BADACA links…
Website: http://www.bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BristolAntiCuts
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BrisNoCuts
Forum: http://www.bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk/wordpress/bbpress/
Affiliate: http://www.bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk/affiliate-to-us/