"The Politics of Service User Labour talks about issues that concern service users/survivors who perform different kinds of labour (paid and unpaid) in the mental health sector. These issues are part of the legacy of patient labour in the psychiatric system. Though there have been improvements in employment and inclusion opportunities over the years, problems remain. We still need to work together to advance working conditions, wages, and benefits for service users/ survivors.
Service user labour is political. Everything that happens in relation to it, whether in paid or volunteer work, has social and economic contexts. Itʼs grounded in a long history of institutional power.
So while this zine looks into problems that affect individuals who do this work, we also raise issues that affect our community as a whole. We also delve into messy topics like how service user/survivors can be complicit in upholding oppressive practices when they participate in the system, and the need for accountability. This stuff is challenging and messy, but also really important for creating better, more equitable labour and inclusion practices.