WorkFREE emerged out of frustration with mainstream efforts to ‘save’ workers at the margins of global capitalism. As has been widely documented, these efforts often make people’s lives worse because they fail to ask people what help they need and do not address the underlying structural conditions pushing them into difficult circumstances in the first place. We wanted a trial that was rooted in principles of solidarity rather than charity.
To this end, the WorkFREE project does two simple things: 1) it provides all participants with unconditional cash, on the understanding that cash matters massively under capitalism; 2) it works with participants to identify and collectively address their problems. In this respect, our pilot attempts to model a way of doing social policy that foregrounds agency and solidarity in addressing the issues that people face. If successful, it could provide a blueprint for doing things differently.
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The Basic Income Earth Network defines UBI as a periodic cash payment delivered to individuals unconditionally, i.e. without any sort of means-test or work requirement. This is not a pie in the sky idea. Scholars from around the world have interrogated its potential (and feasibility) as a radically transformative social policy, and their combined work makes a compelling case for why UBI should move from theory to reality. Research suggests that a UBI could:
• be more efficient and effective than traditional social protection policies
• restore the dignity of individuals that is denied by targeted or conditional benefit systems
• promote real freedom of choice in the labour market
• deepen democracy by creating the breathing space necessary for action
• advance racial justice by redressing some of the legacies of racialised inequality
• promote gender equality by giving financial and social recognition to care and domestic work
• support the necessary transition towards a post-carbon future, in part by offering all people a safety net during a period of intense change
However, most UBI pilots have important limitations and WorkFREE exists in large part to address them. First is the fact that few are asking the most radical questions. For example:
• Does UBI really promote freedom in the labour market?
• Does it substantially reduce or even end exploitation?
• Does it increase civic action?
• What role could it play in the green transition?
Second is the fact that most UBI pilots take the form of RCTs, meaning that they include randomly selected, entirely disconnected individuals as opposed to entire communities. This choice prevents these pilots from showing us how UBI works, and what changes it could trigger, at a collective level. The WorkFREE pilot is different. It models community as well as individual-level impacts while providing the conditions necessary for unanticipated collective change to emerge. It also adds a human-centred, relational ‘plus’ to the delivery of cash: the provision of needs-focused, community organisers who work with recipients to further grow their capabilities to meet their needs. Finally, the WorkFree pilot uses a mixed-methods design that is more effective than a randomised control trial at documenting what, how, and why changes at both individual and collective level. We call this approach ‘UBI+’
