Nottingham Claimants' Union - Organising benefit claimants in Nottingham to defend their welfare against government cuts

A new association is being set up to organise benefit claimants in Nottingham, to represent our interests and fight the cuts in welfare being perpetrated by the current government: Nottingham Claimants' Union. Anyone living in the area who claims a benefit - including housing/council tax benefit, working tax credits, child support etc. as well as JSA and medical benefits - is entitled to join. We also welcome help and support from those who aren't claiming benefits but who are with us in the fight. Alone we have little power to challenge the state bureaucracies that condition our lives; united and working together there is a lot we can do and we owe it to ourselves to stand up and assert our rights and needs.

What will the Union do? At least the following, and maybe more:

• Contribute to the general anti-cuts movement that involves many other groups and sectors of society

• Help each other by mutual aid, collective activity and economy, information and moral support

• Make sure benefit claimants speak for themselves and are heard rather than being ignored or spoken for by others

• Link with similar groups in other parts of the country and the world

A mailing list is up and running at https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/ncu, so if you're interested in contributing to the fight, whether a claimant yourself or a comrade who wants to help, please join and let's get organising. Nobody's going to do it for us, we have to do it ourselves.

I've also created a wiki website for the NCU at http://ncu.wikispot.org/Front_Page, for the purposes of collecting useful information. Examples include details of the cuts, anti-cuts campaigns, claimants' evidence of how they're affected, advice and guidance on dealing with the DWP, links to other organisations. I've written a substantial first page, and if you join the mailing list you can read a post giving some guidance on how to use the wiki yourself.

Anyone is welcome to sign up and add to the wiki; its strength lies in its multi-contributor nature which allows a really collaborative way of working rather than a situation of exclusive control. (Like Indymedia? :) ) Those who are not benefit claimants but who are involved in the anti-cuts campaign are welcome to contribute relevant information on that. Please contact me if you have any concerns or difficulties.

Also we are going to have a first (non-public) planning meeting soon. We have invited someone from the Derbyshire Unemployed Workers' Centre in Chesterfield to give us some advice on how to set up a claimants' union. Get in touch if you would like to come to that.

More news soon.
Mat McVeagh
organiser, Nottingham Claimants' Union