We are a UK–based growing group of precarious workers in culture & education. We call out in solidarity with all those struggling to make a living in this climate of instability and enforced austerity. We come together not to defend what was, but to demand, create and reclaim:
EQUAL PAY: no more free labour; guaranteed income for all.
FREE EDUCATION: all debts and future debts cancelled now.
DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS: cut unelected, unaccountable and unmandated leaders.
THE COMMONS: shared ownership of space, ideas, and resources.
Join us to learn, create & struggle together!
precariousworkersbrigade@aktivix.org
We hold regular open meetings, contact us to get on the mailing list and hear about what we do. The Precarious Workers Brigade is affiliated with the Carrotworkers' Collective http://carrotworkers.wordpress.com/
About the Free labour info box:
We have made it our policy to disclose information about the context in which our work appears, the labour that went into the work and the payment that was received (or not received) for that labour. We do this because there seems to be a culture of silence around payment and working conditions in the arts and the creative sector, which allows exploitation to continue to take place. While eradicating free and low–paid work surely is a longer process, breaking this silence, advocating transparency and refusing to be complicit in perpetuating exploitation in this way is something we can do immediately.
For this purpose we publish an info box alongside our published work or read the info box out at the beginning of a presentation or workshop. Here is an example:
Precarious Workers Brigade have a policy of including information on the context in which their work appears. The materials published here have been produced on various occasions between November 2010 and August 2011; at least 25 people of PWB have been involved in their making; here published in Springerin, January 2012 Issue; writer fee total €X; fee spent by PWB on collective investment; Springerin journal employed X interns in 2011; X interns collaborated in preparing this text for publication; they are paid at €X per hour. These materials are licensed under a Creative Commons non–commercial, share alike, accreditation license BY–NC–SA 3.0. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by–nc–sa/3.0/