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Reposted by Alex Wood

brendanburchell.bsky.social @brendanburchell.bsky.social · Jun 4

www.theworkersunion.com/2025/06/03/g... great write up of our latest research publication with @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social on the Workers Union website

Gig economy workers report high levels of anxiety, insecurity and health risks, new UK study finds

New UK study reveals gig economy riders and drivers face income anxiety, health risks, and job insecurity linked to app-based work platforms.

www.theworkersunion.com

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 3

This is actually a surprisingly good write up of our research by the Mail who also approached Uber and Deliveroo for comment www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...

The misery of being a delivery driver in Britain revealed in new study

If you use apps such as Deliveroo and Uber, you might want to think twice about giving the worker a bad review.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 3

Riders and drivers in the UK gig economy suffer anxiety over ratings and pay: www.cam.ac.uk/stories/gig-...

Riders and drivers in the UK gig economy suffer anxiety over ratings and pay

Anxiety over income and unfair feedback dominates working lives of delivery riders, drivers and “digital labour” workers in UK’s gig economy – with many reporting physical pain and hours spent working...

www.cam.ac.uk

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 3

Write up of our @wesjnl.bsky.social article "Beyond the ‘Gig Economy’: Towards Variable Experiences of Job Quality in Platform Work" phys.org/news/2025-06...

Majority of riders and drivers in UK 'gig economy' suffer anxiety over ratings and pay, study suggests

Some two‑thirds of riders and drivers for food delivery and ride‑hailing apps in the UK may work in fear of "unfair feedback" and experience anxiety over sudden changes to working hours, a new survey ...

phys.org

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 3

Me discussing our new @wesjnl.bsky.social
article:

"Beyond the ‘Gig Economy’: Towards Variable Experiences of Job Quality in Platform Work"

Read it here: doi.org/10.1177/0950...

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 3

For platform workers, this means local platform workers mostly experience worse job quality (largely due to lower bargaining power) but also greater org influence and less isolation and similar influence over job conten, work intensity, job insecurity and reputational insecurity.

Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 3

i.e. where workers experience greater bargaining power or qualitatively different technologies we expect job quality to differ.

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 3

We use these differences to support the model of job quality that I previously developed with
@geoplace.bsky.social (Mark Graham) and
Vili Lehdonvirta in which job quality is understood as determined through the interplay of technological affordances and bargaining power.

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 3

Based on a survey of 500+ platform workers Nick Martindale, Brendan Burchell and I empirically demonstrate how job quality differs across different platform work types (local Vs. remote).

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 3

Our article "Beyond the ‘Gig Economy’: Towards Variable Experiences of Job Quality in Platform Work" has been published by 'Work, Employment and Society'. With Nick Martindale and @brendanburchell.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1177/0950...

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Jun 2

Exited to discuss our Gig Rights Project findings that platform workers want labour rights, trade unions and works councils with Justin Madders MP, Minister for Employment Rights, today.

Read the research here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · May 29

Great new article by @Jess Brand and @linadencik.bsky.social on how platform businesses strategies are impacting worker identity @datajusticelab.bsky.social

Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · May 29

A beautiful day at Darwin College for reading Durand’s ‘How Silicon Valley Unleashed Techo-feudalism’

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Reposted by Alex Wood

Aditya Ray @adiray.bsky.social · May 22

What can India’s emerging gig worker unions teach us about labour organising & welfare in the digital age?

Thrilled about this new open-access paper with @islandexpress
in @compchange.bsky.social

Read: doi.org/10.1177/1024...

It's packed with ideas. A thread of it's key interventions:

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Reposted by Alex Wood

Aditya Ray @adiray.bsky.social · May 22

1. We argue that emergent unions like Connect_IFAT
and TGPWU in India's gig and platform sector aren’t just 'new' unions & orgs. They're part of a longer history of formal & informal labour struggles, pulling from Reena Agarwala's 1st, 2nd & 3rd waves of legal empowerment.

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Reposted by Alex Wood

Aditya Ray @adiray.bsky.social · May 22

6.And we set them up globally.
From recent work by Umney et al. @digitcentre.bsky.social
to @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social
and others', we attempt to situate Indian gig worker organising in a wider international conversation. There are patterns, but also crucial divergences

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · May 19

Alice I'm back at Cambridge now, when do you start?

Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · May 7

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · May 7

In Parliament to discuss protecting gig workers in the age of AI. I’ll be advocating for labour rights, unions and codetermination via works councils. Read the research below

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Reposted by Alex Wood

Kneecap @kneecapceol.bsky.social · Apr 27

Meanwhile, Sharon Osbourne thinks telling people about Israeli war crimes at Coachella "compromised its moral and spiritual integrity”....

Doctors Without Borders states that 70% of Gaza burn victims are children.

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Apr 7

Pleased to see that Michael Burawoy's important article 'Why and how should sociologists speak out on Palestine?' has been posthumously published by @sociologicalreview.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Mar 26

The 'responsible choice' for Rachel Reeves and the Labour Party is to rise taxes those with broadest shoulders not cut benefits for the vulnerable. Reeves is easily the worst thing to have happened to the Labour Party since the Gang of Four.

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Reposted by Alex Wood

Sigurd M Nordli Oppegaard @sigurdoppegaard.bsky.social · Mar 24

I defended my PhD thesis on Friday. Thanks to the opponents, Trine P. Larsen and @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social, for your thorough reading, relevant and challenging questions, and for very interesting discussions.

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Mar 24

Was a pleasure to read and examine @sigurdoppegaard.bsky.social’s excellent thesis.

Sigurd M Nordli Oppegaard @sigurdoppegaard.bsky.social · Mar 24

I defended my PhD thesis on Friday. Thanks to the opponents, Trine P. Larsen and @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social, for your thorough reading, relevant and challenging questions, and for very interesting discussions.

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Alex Wood @alexjwoodsociology.bsky.social · Mar 23

What’s the point of the Labour Party? Its refusal to raise tax on the rich, is not only doing untold harm to the vulnerable but is opening the door to Reform. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

All UK families ‘to be worse off by 2030’ as poor bear the brunt, new data warns

Keir Starmer has been dealt a fresh blow to his living standards pledge in advance of the spring statement

www.theguardian.com

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