The gigification of university. Utter disgrace.
Academic staff at Coventry University are being TUPEd into subsidiary People’s Futures Ltd, listed on Companies House as an “employment agency”. This move onto inferior terms & conditions breaches the post-92 National Agreement and raises serious questions about the future of academics in HE.
March 21, 2026 at 7:02 AM
The gigification of university. Utter disgrace.
This is the core argument? So is he pushing for structural solutions to address gigification? Unions, faculty governance, restoring public funding. Or is it just more punching left?
Harper is quick to to challenge his critics to not run away from the substance of his piece, but having read his piece I can say that it is a criticism… of Bates College, in the US collegiate scene exception rather than norm. But he then frames his argument as some sweeping claim about all colleges!
August 11, 2026 at 8:51 PM
This is the core argument? So is he pushing for structural solutions to address gigification? Unions, faculty governance, restoring public funding. Or is it just more punching left?
"The story isn’t that AI is leading to mass unemployment; it’s that AI is being used as a cover for the gigification of work."
jacobin.com/2026/07/ai-g...
jacobin.com/2026/07/ai-g...
AI Is Contributing to the Gigification of Work
Bosses have desired ways to cut labor costs since time immemorial. Artificial-intelligence hype provides a powerful new excuse to replace stable employment with gig work.
jacobin.com
July 13, 2026 at 10:31 PM
"The story isn’t that AI is leading to mass unemployment; it’s that AI is being used as a cover for the gigification of work."
jacobin.com/2026/07/ai-g...
jacobin.com/2026/07/ai-g...
Very interesting to see the game industry talk about this phenomenon as 'deprofessionalisation'. Definitely more visible now in the wake of all the layoffs, but really this has been unfolding for 15+ years now as both platformisation and gigification.
www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-de...
www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-de...
The 'deprofessionalization of video games' was on full display at PAX East
PAX East felt like a warning: explosively successful games by solo devs and small teams are great, but it could lead to a dearth of vital specialists.
www.gamedeveloper.com
May 19, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Very interesting to see the game industry talk about this phenomenon as 'deprofessionalisation'. Definitely more visible now in the wake of all the layoffs, but really this has been unfolding for 15+ years now as both platformisation and gigification.
www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-de...
www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-de...
Postal workers are fighting the gigification of a vital public service ⋆ The Breach breachmedia.ca/postal-worke...
Postal workers are fighting the gigification of a vital public service ⋆ The Breach
Strikes by postal workers have paved the way for Canadians to enjoy maternity leave and job security. Now, they are fighting the casualization that threatens so many workers.
breachmedia.ca
December 7, 2024 at 3:53 PM
Postal workers are fighting the gigification of a vital public service ⋆ The Breach breachmedia.ca/postal-worke...
The AAUP asserts that AI is a labor, governance, & public good issue subject to collective bargaining, controlled through shared governance, & regulated to prevent displacement, surveillance, inequality, gigification, & the privatization & extraction of knowledge produced by academic workers.
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June 18, 2026 at 2:28 AM
The AAUP asserts that AI is a labor, governance, & public good issue subject to collective bargaining, controlled through shared governance, & regulated to prevent displacement, surveillance, inequality, gigification, & the privatization & extraction of knowledge produced by academic workers.
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6
Strikes by postal workers have previously paved the way for Canadians to enjoy maternity leave and job security.
Now, postal worker Kieran Delamont writes, they are fighting the gigification that threatens so many other workers across the country.
breachmedia.ca/postal-worke...
Now, postal worker Kieran Delamont writes, they are fighting the gigification that threatens so many other workers across the country.
breachmedia.ca/postal-worke...
Postal workers are fighting the gigification of a vital public service ⋆ The Breach
Strikes by postal workers have paved the way for Canadians to enjoy maternity leave and job security. Now, they are fighting the casualization that threatens so many workers.
breachmedia.ca
December 5, 2024 at 5:04 PM
Strikes by postal workers have previously paved the way for Canadians to enjoy maternity leave and job security.
Now, postal worker Kieran Delamont writes, they are fighting the gigification that threatens so many other workers across the country.
breachmedia.ca/postal-worke...
Now, postal worker Kieran Delamont writes, they are fighting the gigification that threatens so many other workers across the country.
breachmedia.ca/postal-worke...
Postal workers are fighting the gigification of a vital public service:
Strikes by postal workers have paved the way for Canadians to enjoy maternity leave and job security. Now, they are fighting the casualization that threatens so many workers.
#CUPW #CanadaPost #canlab #1u #SupportCUPW #cdnpoli
Strikes by postal workers have paved the way for Canadians to enjoy maternity leave and job security. Now, they are fighting the casualization that threatens so many workers.
#CUPW #CanadaPost #canlab #1u #SupportCUPW #cdnpoli
Postal workers are fighting the gigification of a vital public service ⋆ The Breach
Strikes by postal workers have paved the way for Canadians to enjoy maternity leave and job security. Now, they are fighting the casualization that threatens so many workers.
breachmedia.ca
December 9, 2024 at 1:32 AM
Postal workers are fighting the gigification of a vital public service:
Strikes by postal workers have paved the way for Canadians to enjoy maternity leave and job security. Now, they are fighting the casualization that threatens so many workers.
#CUPW #CanadaPost #canlab #1u #SupportCUPW #cdnpoli
Strikes by postal workers have paved the way for Canadians to enjoy maternity leave and job security. Now, they are fighting the casualization that threatens so many workers.
#CUPW #CanadaPost #canlab #1u #SupportCUPW #cdnpoli
The Teamsters have made some dubious political choices recently, but a major strike against Amazon absolutely needs to be supported. Pushing back against the gigification of all forms of work is necessary.
December 19, 2024 at 2:26 PM
The Teamsters have made some dubious political choices recently, but a major strike against Amazon absolutely needs to be supported. Pushing back against the gigification of all forms of work is necessary.
The deskilling and gigification of knowledge work is a Silicon Valley's political project. AI is one of the tools they're using, the destruction of institutional infrastructures is another.
How Silicon Valley Is Turning Scientists Into Exploited Gig Workers
Tech elites are enriching themselves by plundering STEM institutions—and offering researchers scraps.
www.thenation.com
April 14, 2026 at 8:38 PM
The deskilling and gigification of knowledge work is a Silicon Valley's political project. AI is one of the tools they're using, the destruction of institutional infrastructures is another.
"It's about the gig economy! It's about exploitation!" Work under capitalism is exploitative by nature. Gigification is advancing and soon it will be universal. Yet you aren't critiquing that, or critiquing the corporations responsible. You're critiquing a subset of service users
January 9, 2025 at 2:49 AM
"It's about the gig economy! It's about exploitation!" Work under capitalism is exploitative by nature. Gigification is advancing and soon it will be universal. Yet you aren't critiquing that, or critiquing the corporations responsible. You're critiquing a subset of service users
i mean i wish this was an option for more jobs in general but it would absolutely get absorbed into the gigification hell spiral
February 25, 2026 at 3:24 PM
i mean i wish this was an option for more jobs in general but it would absolutely get absorbed into the gigification hell spiral
thats what im saying. but they are pro gigification
April 14, 2026 at 9:56 PM
thats what im saying. but they are pro gigification
kind of seems like the gigification of academic labor has gone on apace as social justice rhetoric has waxed and waned
Harper is quick to to challenge his critics to not run away from the substance of his piece, but having read his piece I can say that it is a criticism… of Bates College, in the US collegiate scene exception rather than norm. But he then frames his argument as some sweeping claim about all colleges!
August 11, 2026 at 8:49 PM
kind of seems like the gigification of academic labor has gone on apace as social justice rhetoric has waxed and waned
"CUPW is vehemently opposed to a 'two-tier work force' in which some classes of employees have enhanced working conditions over others ... calling it a slow 'gigification' of the post office."
November 20, 2024 at 12:42 AM
"CUPW is vehemently opposed to a 'two-tier work force' in which some classes of employees have enhanced working conditions over others ... calling it a slow 'gigification' of the post office."
The Gigification of Publishing (another, and distinctly skeptical, look at the much-discussed new publishing venture, Authors Equity) thebaffler.com/latest/the-g...
The Gigification of Publishing | Dan Sinykin
A new publishing company called Authors Equity styles itself as a Silicon Valley-esque disruptor. How it will affect a beleaguered book industry?
thebaffler.com
March 19, 2024 at 4:14 PM
The Gigification of Publishing (another, and distinctly skeptical, look at the much-discussed new publishing venture, Authors Equity) thebaffler.com/latest/the-g...
I knew we'd get to the gigification of Higher Education sooner than later
The plan is to eventually hire freelancers by the hour to design course packages to be taught by other hourly-paid exploited people.
April 21, 2026 at 11:28 AM
I knew we'd get to the gigification of Higher Education sooner than later
I think that's likely to be part of it yeah- gigification breaks institutional cultures
October 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
I think that's likely to be part of it yeah- gigification breaks institutional cultures
“Understaffing & gigification affect UPs, too. As roles have been eliminated & consolidated and job functions outsourced, UPs have helped to create—& come to depend on—ever-growing pools of freelancers, including developmental editors, copyeditors, typesetters, cover designers, & indexers.” - Me!
You may not know this but @fivefteditrix.bsky.social does FANTASTIC work w/ SUNY Press, supporting/enabling the peer review process. If you’ve been a reviewer, you may have worked w/ her. Sadly, authors don’t get to know her b/c she’s freelance (grr) but she’s absolutely integral & an A+ colleague.
Editorial freelancers are the adjuncts of the UP world. Our dispossession is not the fault of anyone still clinging to (and overworked in) an in-house job, but it would be nice if we got more acknowledgement of the strains that come with our being on the wrong end of that hierarchical arrangement.
November 20, 2024 at 8:59 PM
“Understaffing & gigification affect UPs, too. As roles have been eliminated & consolidated and job functions outsourced, UPs have helped to create—& come to depend on—ever-growing pools of freelancers, including developmental editors, copyeditors, typesetters, cover designers, & indexers.” - Me!
Oh, "more choice" is clearly a euphemism for gigification
January 6, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Oh, "more choice" is clearly a euphemism for gigification
Dedicated to the mercenary and the freelancer, Baffler no. 83 contemplates the gigification of American life and privatization of conflict around the world, with stories on private militaries, foreign capital, and the impossibility of making a living as a writer.
thebaffler.com/issues/no-83
thebaffler.com/issues/no-83
April 1, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Dedicated to the mercenary and the freelancer, Baffler no. 83 contemplates the gigification of American life and privatization of conflict around the world, with stories on private militaries, foreign capital, and the impossibility of making a living as a writer.
thebaffler.com/issues/no-83
thebaffler.com/issues/no-83
On one level, we have the hyperscale data center build out being motivated by the alleged "need" for so-called "AI" systems and their economic advantage, which really amounts to their usefulness and an excuse for layoffs and gigification.
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August 10, 2026 at 4:52 PM
On one level, we have the hyperscale data center build out being motivated by the alleged "need" for so-called "AI" systems and their economic advantage, which really amounts to their usefulness and an excuse for layoffs and gigification.
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Yeah, to the extent that this “gigification” occurred it was straightforwardly a cost cutting measure that had precisely zero to do with “social justice”
August 11, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Yeah, to the extent that this “gigification” occurred it was straightforwardly a cost cutting measure that had precisely zero to do with “social justice”