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Addressing the rising tide of food insecurity in the UK
Blog Dr Megan Blake Blog Dr Megan Blake

Addressing the rising tide of food insecurity in the UK

“Cash first” approaches to food poverty, where cash payments are given to people so that they can purchase food, works for some. But as FAWN member Dr Megan Blake argues, cash transfers can also go toward other priorities, such as debt or rent, rather than food. They do not improve health, job prospects or long-term income of those in need

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Reconnecting Agroecology and the Labour Movement
Blog Dr Rowan Lubbock Blog Dr Rowan Lubbock

Reconnecting Agroecology and the Labour Movement

The Food and Work Network, supported by the Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network at Birkbeck, University of London, held a day of discussion at the Organiclea Workers’ Cooperative in Chingford in May. Rowan Lubbock reports on the political debates between degrowth and productivist socialism, focusing on tensions between industrial and agroecological food production models.

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Piloting Ultra-Low Food Waste Zones: The Case of Somers Town in Camden, London
Blog Farrah Rainfly - Operations Manager at Lifeafterhummus Community Benefit Society Blog Farrah Rainfly - Operations Manager at Lifeafterhummus Community Benefit Society

Piloting Ultra-Low Food Waste Zones: The Case of Somers Town in Camden, London

Lifeafterhummus runs a social supermarket and re-use center in Somers Town, a central London community affected by recent regeneration and the arrival of the UK Google HQ. Despite this, it still faces high levels of deprivation. Farrah Rainfly discusses how data analysis provides a chance for Somers Town to lead in reducing food waste for Camden and beyond.

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Getting Election Ready:  Making the Hunger Crisis a Key Issue
Dr Michael Calderbank Dr Michael Calderbank

Getting Election Ready:  Making the Hunger Crisis a Key Issue

In January 2024 the Food and Work Network (FAWN) entered the belly of the beast, and headed into the Westminster Parliament for a discussion on “Keeping the Hunger Crisis on the Agenda: At the General Election and Beyond”, in an event sponsored by Ian Byrne MP.

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Rosa Luxemburg Foundation/ BFAWU Course Review
FAWN Team FAWN Team

Rosa Luxemburg Foundation/ BFAWU Course Review

In March 2020, my employer, the pub chain JD Wetherspoon was forced to shut its pubs immediately when the UK lockdown began. Government furlough payment plans were still being finalised, but unlike many other hospitality industry employers, JD Wetherspoon refused to pay its staff while they waited for the furlough money to come through. At that time no one knew how long that would take. The advice given to staff in a video sent to us from boss Tim Martin was to get a job at Tesco.

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Volunteers in food support work – their views and why they matter
Dr Hilda Mulrooney and Dr Ronald Ranta Dr Hilda Mulrooney and Dr Ronald Ranta

Volunteers in food support work – their views and why they matter

The Community Food Research Team at Kingston University and London Metropolitan University examine the role volunteers play in providing food support to low-income families and individuals. Their research shows why food support volunteering is still important post-pandemic, and why the charitable organisations who provide the bulk of food support need to sustain the participation of volunteers more than ever before.

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Migrant Seasonal Workers Exploited While Supermarkets Profit
Catherine McAndrew Catherine McAndrew

Migrant Seasonal Workers Exploited While Supermarkets Profit

A new report has revealed the structural drivers of exploitation in the supply chain and migration system for migrant workers employed on large soft fruit farms. The Landworkers’ Alliance, in conjunction with the New Economics Foundation, Focus on Labour Exploitation, Sustain, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, and a network of former farmworkers, launched the report to show the extent of the exploitation and makes a series of demands for reform.

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Ian Mearns: “Fighting the Corner for Food Workers”
Ian Mearns Ian Mearns

Ian Mearns: “Fighting the Corner for Food Workers”

This blog is the address from Ian Mearns, MP for Gateshead to the Annual Conference of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union 12th June 2023. He updated conference on the main debates and developments from the BFAWU Parliamentary Group during the last year.

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The Campaign for a Right to Food Act and the Indivisibility of Human Rights
Sara Bailey Sara Bailey

The Campaign for a Right to Food Act and the Indivisibility of Human Rights

The UK is one of the richest countries in the world and yet food insecurity blights the lives of millions of its residents. In this context, under the banner of the 'Right to Food Campaign', community organisations, unions, and NGOs are turning to a new tool – the human right to food – in an effort to force the government to act.

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Food workers and Low pay
Tommy Kane Tommy Kane

Food workers and Low pay

In 2021 Unity Consulting Scotland conducted a membership survey on behalf of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU).  Survey results showed a clear link between low pay, insecure work and food insecurity. This was the catalyst for the creation of the Food and Work Network (FAWN) and in this blog we examine the appalling behaviour of two major food production companies towards their former employees.

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Community Restaurants to Universal Rights: food as an intersectional struggle
Michael Calderbank Michael Calderbank

Community Restaurants to Universal Rights: food as an intersectional struggle

The third of the Food and Work Network’s (FAWN’s) series of ‘knowledge exchange’ workshops took place at Liverpool Hope University in February 2023. Funded by the British Academy-Leverhulme Trust, this workshop brought together academics researching aspects of the food system in the UK, along with trade unionists and community activists with lived experience to share their knowledge and insight into how access to food can be problematic.

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