PWB was active between 2010-ca2018
We are a UK-based 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.
The PWB’s praxis springs from a shared commitment to developing research and actions that are practical, relevant and easily shared and applied. If putting an end to precarity is the social justice we seek, our political project involves developing tactics, strategies, formats, practices, dispositions, knowledges and tools for making this happen.
Some tools that have come out of our working process can be found in the Tools section of this website. They are meant to be shared, used and developed.
Working Themes
Currently we are working around the following themes:
- Labour conditions (esp in the cultural and educational sector): We have produced a number of tools to address unpaid internships and free labour, such as the Bust Your Boss Card, the ‘Surviving Internship - A Counter-Guide to Free Labour in the Arts’ (authored as Carrot Workers Collective) and open letters to institutions. We also engage in protest actions, often in conjunction with other groups/campaigns.
- Education/’The hidden curriculum’: This working group looks at the role of higher education in the normalisation of precarity. We have produced ‘Training For Exploitation? Politicising Employability and Reclaiming Education’ - an ‘alternative curriculum’ for those finding themselves teaching ‘professional development’ modules or running work placement programmes in art/design colleges. We also do workshops with art/design students and recent graduates.
- Institutionalized precarity and the corporatisation of the arts
- Solidarities: We support other campaigns in solidarity, for example cleaner’s campaigns of UVW; the internship campaigns of groups like Future Interns and the International Coalition for Fair Internships; the Anti-Raids Network, which works with local communities to challenge illegal raids and the detention of migrant workers
Find more info on our work process and ethics in the Ethics Code section of the website and in this interview.
Join us to learn, create & struggle together!
UPDATE: We are no longer active as a collective. If you are organising a workshop, or are interested in learning more about our work please have a look through this website: You can find info to help you run your own workshop in the TOOLS section and in our ‘Counter-Guide’ and ‘Training for Exploitation?’. Or have a look at the TEXT section if you want to learn more about PWB (texts, interviews).
E: precariousworkersbrigade@aktivix.org
Fb: Precarious Workers Brigade
Tw: @PWB_Carrots
We are based at the Common House, a collectively managed space for radical groups, projects and community events in East London www.commonhouse.org.uk The Common House, Unit 5E 5 Pundersons Gardens, E2 9QG London
