Precarious workers in London: New forms of organisation and the city

Woodcock, Jamie

doi:10.1080/13604813.2014.962896

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…However, following the 2007-09 crisis self-employment is still rising, and rapidly so in recent years, to above 15% of the labour force in the UK. Despite the well-documented rise in precarious forms of employment (as per notorious 'zero-hours' contracts, see for example Woodcock, 2014) which may indeed constitute 'false' self-employment, this would seem to indicate a more fundamental shift to new ways of working and work organisation (this is supported by Labour Force Survey data in the UK showing that the two occupational categories with the highest increases in self-employment during this period to be managers, directors and senior officials and professional occupations). On this point, Figure 2 also shows the trend in remote working (defined as working mainly or partly away from the premises of the employer) in the UK from 1997 (the earliest point at which consistent data is available) up to 2014.…”

Section: Figure 2: the Rise In Uk Self-employment And Remote Working ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coworking in the digital economy: Context, motivations, and outcomes

Clifton

Fuzi²,

Loudon

2022

Futures

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Section: Figure 2: the Rise In Uk Self-employment And Remote Working ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coworking in the digital economy: Context, motivations, and outcomes

Clifton

Fuzi²,

Loudon

2022

Futures

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“…This has involved forming selfdefence groups against motorbike thefts, as well as engaging in strike action and organising. Like communities of Latin Americans working as cleaners in central London (Woodcock 2014b), this has involved radical politics as well as lively traditions of engaging in action. It has also been complicated by splits over support for Bolsonaro in Brazil.…”

Section: Social Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fight Against Platform Capitalism: An Inquiry into the Global Struggles of the Gig Economy

Woodcock

2021

Self Cite

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So far, platform work has been an important laboratory for capital. Management techniques, like the use of algorithms, are being tested with a view to exporting across the global economy and it is argued that automation is undermining workers’ agency. Although the contractual trick of self-employment has allowed platforms to grow quickly and keep their costs down, yet it has also been the case also that workers have also found they can strike without following the existing regulations. This book develops a critique of platforms and platform capitalism from the perspective of workers and contributes to the ongoing debates about the future of work and worker organising. It presents an alternative portrait returning to a focus on workers’ experience, focusing on solidarity, drawing out a global picture of new forms of agency. In particular, the book focuses on three dynamics that are driving struggles in the platform economy: the increasing connections between workers who are no longer isolated; the lack of communication and negotiation from platforms, leading to escalating worker action around shared issues; and the internationalisation of platforms, which has laid the basis for new transnational solidarity. Focusing on transport and courier workers, online workers and freelancers author Jamie Woodcock concludes by considering how workers build power in different situations. Rather than undermining worker agency, platforms have instead provided the technical basis for the emergence of new global struggles against capitalism.

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“…The burgeoning literature on these new unions (Alberti, 2016; Alberti and Pero, 2018; Gall, 2020; Kirkpatrick, 2014; Pero, 2019; Woodcock, 2014) positions them, whether implicitly or explicitly, as something separate from, or even in opposition to existing UK labour movement institutions. This approach is certainly understandable given that members of these unions cite their previous experiences of exclusionary treatment within Trades Union Congress (TUC) unions as the primary reason for their formation (see Kirkpatrick, 2014; Moyer-Lee and Chango-Lopez, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ‘indie unions’ and the UK labour movement: Towards a community of practice

Smith

2021

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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This article draws on the concept of communities of practice (COP) in order to illuminate the phenomenon of ‘indie unions’ and their contribution to the UK labour movement. These unions are typically regarded as distinct from, and perhaps in opposition to, existing labour movement institutions, and thus exempt from consideration in debates about union renewal. The argument offered here aims to show that by conceptualising the UK labour movement as COP, and the indie unions as community members, they can be considered key actors in union renewal. Through case studies of different union campaigns in the outsourced cleaning sector, this article demonstrates how the indie unions’ strategies are being learned and practised by the established unions, thus situating them as an intrinsic part of a stratified yet solidaristic labour movement with the potential for renewal.

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Precarious workers in London: New forms of organisation and the city

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Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Coworking in the digital economy: Context, motivations, and outcomes

Coworking in the digital economy: Context, motivations, and outcomes

The Fight Against Platform Capitalism: An Inquiry into the Global Struggles of the Gig Economy

The ‘indie unions’ and the UK labour movement: Towards a community of practice

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