Neil Coleman is a Senior Policy Specialist and a Founding Co-Director of the IEJ. Since the late 1970s, he has been an activist, strategist, and policy researcher in the South African Mass Democratic Movement, United Democratic Front, Tripartite Alliance and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). As a COSATU official between 1989 and 2017, he participated in the constitutional negotiations, headed COSATU’s parliamentary office, acted as a special advisor to the Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, and worked as the Strategies Co-ordinator in the COSATU Secretariat. Neil led Labour’s delegation in the national minimum wage negotiations. He is a member of the IEJ Leadership Team and coordinated the IEJ’s work on universal basic income until March 2025. Neil now plays a transversal role, inter alia collaborating with IEJ teams on policy and advocacy efforts.