A redesigned economy
Helen Barnard explains how the causes of poverty interlink with employment, housing and social security, and the need for a redesigned economy.
Tag / discrimination
Evenbreak
Jane Hatton, tells the story of setting up Evenbreak – a UK job board connecting employers and disabled candidates. Finding discriminatory attitudes that affected disabled applicants getting jobs and becoming disabled herself, Jane was motivated to challenge employment practices. Evenbreak is a living wage employer and social business which has over 600 employers and 50,000 disabled candidates registered on the site.
Birmingham ‘a tale of two cities’
John Cotton, a Labour councillor in Birmingham, tells the story of in-work poverty and his campaign to make the local council introduce the Real Living Wage (RLW). All council staff and 17,000 employees are now paid the RLW and Birmingham has set up a Poverty Truth Commission to listen to those with lived experience of poverty.
Education to tackle racism
Khady Gueye tells the story of organising a Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020. She received a fierce backlash and racist abuse as well as tremendous support including from the local police. Khady recognised the need for a long term approach to counter racial and economic injustice which are so connected. She set up the Local Equality Commission, working with partners to tackle racial, political and economic injustice collaboratively.
Craigielea Care Home Dispute
Keith Hodgson tells the story of Craigielea Care Home in the North East of England, UK. After blowing the whistle on the poor treatment of residents and going on strike, some care home staff were sacked. Keith helped create a high profile campaign using music and performance to raise awareness and the staff successfully found new jobs in their local area.
Community solidarity
Professor Nadia Valman tells the story of late nineteenth and early twentieth century strikes for better pay and working conditions in the East End of London. She explores how people from Irish and Jewish communities, in spite of differences, supported each other in solidarity when facing injustice and defending their rights.
Economics of waste
Georgia Elliott-Smith, an environmental engineer, tells the story of campaigning against pollution from waste incinerators. Georgia began a legal case for the UK government to recognise that air pollution is harmful and Black and other disadvantaged communities are disproportionately affected by poor quality air. She demanded a tax on incinerator pollution. The case proceeded to the High Court in the UK after Georgia raised £30,000 by crowdfunding.
Housing benefits and complex care needs
Paul Rutherford tells the story of how he and his wife Susan fought to overturn a policy that would have seen housing benefit reduced if you had a spare room, dubbed the ‘Bedroom Tax’. The family, who needed the room for an overnight carer to help look after their disabled grandson, took their case to the High Court and won.
A recipe for economic justice
Professor Barry Supple outlines key components of an economically just society and explores degrees of justice and fairness in an economy. He describes three important ingredients for achieving economic justice in society: the provision of education, a well-resourced welfare state and a progressive taxation system.
Structural economic injustice
Dr. Charlotte McPherson explains the power of rhetoric that blames people for their own poverty and structural injustices. She focuses on the links between low wages, insecure work and food poverty experienced by young people. In our podcast series, she explores what an economically just society looks like.