We exist in a world where Information Communication Technologies have made a remarkable number of tasks independent of distance. In is no longer necessary for many workers to share the same geographic location as their colleagues, or employer. Clerical work, transcriptions, video editing, copywriting and a huge raft of other types of work can be done from nearly anywhere on the planet, communicating, sharing files and transacting payment, via their computers. Of course, the majority of physical skills – manual labour, driving, cleaning – require a person to be in a specific place, but for an increasing number of different types of work, this is no longer the case.
This series of the Fairwork podcast is about this change. It’s about what happens when work goes global and the emergence of platforms that manage the transactions between workers and employers scattered across the 4 corners of the globe. It’s about the creation of labour markets that exist at the planetary level, and the social, political and economic questions that this poses for workers.
You can contact me via email: robbie.warin@oii.ox.ac.uk
