Exponential: Order and Chaos in an Age of Accelerating Technology

by Azeem Azhar

Perhaps the word ‘union’ just has too much baggage in the Exponential Age. It conjures up images of striking miners and steelworkers more than of striking Deliveroo drivers. Yet collective action remains the best way to guarantee a workplace that is fair for employees. If we are to build an employment settlement that is dignified, flexible, secure and equitable, workers will need to get organised. Only unions can collectively bargain on behalf of workers. And unions are also better than individual workers at developing the expertise required to digest the complex technical issues emerging in a rapidly changing economy. But in the world of trade unions, too, digital technology is both the problem and the solution. The creation of new networks of information gives workers an opportunity to identify their shared experiences, discuss how to respond, and organise. Finding like-minded people to collaborate with has always been a barrier to unionisation – but this problem is less pronounced in the Exponential Age when anyone with a smartphone becomes a potential comrade. Today, the process of unionisation often begins with informal collectivisation on WhatsApp groups and online forums. While workers in each industry have their own demands, the use of technology for collectivisation is uniform.90 In West Virginia, where union membership rates hover at around 10.5 per cent,91 teachers looking to organise set up an invite-only Facebook group. Close to 70 per cent of the state’s 35,0...