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Gerry Lavery

Member of, and activist with, Unite Community (Leeds & Wakefield Branch), the community wing of Unite the trade union, the second largest union in the UK.

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Posts by Gerry Lavery:

  • Social security, ‘shirkers’ and sanctions: unsettling the ‘common sense’

    Posted at IGS Archive: 30 Jan 2020
    Originally published in Social security, 'shirkers' and sanctions: unsettling the 'common sense' | 2017
  • Drawing on the ideas of Antonio Gramsci, especially ‘common sense’ and’ war of position’, this paper examines the the interventions of a community trade union in the struggle against state benefit or social security sanctions in the UK. It also considers how alliances might be built in a reinvigorated campaign to challenge the prevailing common sense that underpins the sanctions regime.