The latest universities strike: A stark warning to us all about the digital economy

How do we ensure democratic control over our workplaces in the ever-evolving digital economy?

In the ever-evolving digital economy, academic staff and tech workers alike find themselves shouldering different burdens with a shared concern: 

How do we ensure democratic control over workplaces?

This week, UCU members at academic institutions across the UK will strike over pensions, pay and working conditions.

More than ever before, digital infrastructure and data is being used to manage workforces. 

For academic staff, the introduction of reporting systems that are attune to more finely grained quantification for research productivity, maps closely onto other forms of surveillance.

As sociologist Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra shows in his forthcoming book, The Quantified Scholar, this changes the incentives for work. 

For example, in the UK, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), introduced in 2014, is a system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions.

This measures three things: 

-the quality of outputs (e.g. publications, performances, and exhibitions)

-their impact beyond academia

-the environment that supports research.

As Pardo-Guerra explains, the shift to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) has changed how knowledge is done and how science is done, all in the guise of managing through data and quantification. 

“Do we want our institutions run by data-driven models or informed by how people want to have a say in their work?”

Although the REF is just one example, it highlights the use of data and how digital platforms increasingly play integral roles in day-to-day work life for many around the world. 

Ultimately, these leaves us asking one question: 

Do we want our institutions run by data-driven models or informed by how people want to have a say in their work?

The fact that this question is being asked reflects the shift of power in society, specifically to the rise of big tech. 

Today’s tech sector represents the most financially powerful companies in human history.

From building the digital ecosystems that are integral to the modern economy, to specific quantification tools used by employees and employers, it is likely that big tech companies will continue to have an ever-growing influence over the future of work. 

However, these companies have so far shown little evidence to support workers’ rights. 

Nor have they shown any real inclination to expand fair employment practices or contribute significantly to the tax base.

Furthermore, there has been examples of big tech organisations pitching tools that subvert democratic processes for workers at other companies.

Last year, the Intercept reported that a tool had been pitched internally within Facebook, that would allow employers to censor trending topics when teams used the Facebook Workplace platform 

Alongside tools that may impact other sectors, these big tech organisations have also actively opposed and undermined organising among their own employees.

“The latest universities strike offers a stark warning to us all about the future of professional and knowledge work in the digital economy.”

In 2019, an article in The New York Times stated that Google were engaging in practices that were ‘cracking down on union activism’ and there have been many other examples of workers in big tech organisations striking over pay and conditions in algorithm-run work environments.

This concerns us. 

We believe that the relationship between digital technology and society should benefit everyone, and be accessible to all. 

Through our work, we are examining access and care, in relation to the rise of the gig economy with its attendant insecurities, work patterns and ‘management by algorithm’ across sectors.  

We are also exploring the democratic implications of technologies which eliminate rather than create jobs.

The influence of digital technology and the private companies behind these developments is growing, fast.

The latest universities strike offers a stark warning to us all about the future of professional and knowledge work in the digital economy.

Read more about our Work initiative