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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 15d

"How does the local state mediate the relationship between technological change and work?": Forthcoming in Work & Occupations. Offers a typology for how devolved govt can intervene to shape technology's impact on local workers, esp in low wage jobs. @digitcentre.bsky.social @ceric-lubs.bsky.social

How does the local state mediate the relationship between technological change and work? Evidence from warehousing in England

Abbie Winton, Charles Umney, Gabriella Alberti

Abstract
The debate on technology and the future of work has so far engaged little with the local state. This is surprising, since the local state’s role as a potentially progressive actor in employment relations systems is attracting renewed interest in sociological scholarship. Through a study of warehousing in northern England, we examine how local state actors can mediate the relationship between technological change and work. We show that they often questioned the policy orthodoxy that private employer-led technological innovation always benefits local working populations, and we develop a typology of three strategies through which they sought to engage with technological trajectories in warehousing workplaces: engagement and advocacy, activation, and conditionality. Our study also shows how their regulatory capacity was limited by the opacity of technological innovation in warehousing, confining them to “soft” strategies which enshrined employer discretion and market imperatives. It concludes by reflecting on alternative visions whereby the local state may become more empowered to shape the future of work.

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 16d

It would be good if the only political pushback against Nigel Farage's plans to mass deport hundreds of thousands of our neighbours, friends, family and colleagues didn't just come from a handful of backbench MPs and one regional mayor

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Abbie Winton @abbiewinton.bsky.social · 16d

It's been a long time coming, but I'm delighted to announce that my PhD paper "Sociotechnical Change in British Supermarkets: Examining the Role of Labour" has finally been published in New Technology, Work and Employment 🎉

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

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Barbora Cernusakova @bcernusa.bsky.social · 16d

"In contrast to futurist predictions of the proliferation of labour-replacing technologies, the analysis shows how food retailers continued to prioritise short-term solutions contingent on human labour rather than investments in longer-term automation programme."

Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 16d

Many congratulations to @abbiewinton.bsky.social for this outstanding new paper in @ntwejournal.bsky.social! Essential reading for understanding technological adoption in retail workplaces, with a lot of additional insight into the implications of covid 🚨🚨👇👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Sociotechnical Change in British Supermarkets: Examining the Role of Labour

Lead author Abbie Winton

When predicting the future of retail work, commentators tend to focus on automation and labour replacement and neglect the continued role played by labour, particularly in food retail. To understand this role, this article draws on both interview and newspaper data to show how change unfolded in the sector from before to just after the Coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, it shows how increased technology adoption and use in food retail occurred alongside an increased reliance on labour. The availability of a flexible labour pool that was easy to scale and later disband enabled employers to respond to increased consumer demand rapidly. In contrast to futurist predictions of the proliferation of labour-replacing technologies, the analysis shows how food retailers continued to prioritise short-term solutions contingent on human labour rather than investments in longer-term automation programmes, reflecting historical patterns of sociotechnical change within the sector.

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 16d

Many congratulations to @abbiewinton.bsky.social for this outstanding new paper in @ntwejournal.bsky.social! Essential reading for understanding technological adoption in retail workplaces, with a lot of additional insight into the implications of covid 🚨🚨👇👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Stephen Shapiro @stephenshapiro.bsky.social · 19d

thetab.com/2025/09/18/g...

Greenwich University suspends senior staff after restructure of architecture department

Sources say the suspensions are thought to be related to opposition from staff against the restructure

thetab.com

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Dr Eleanor Janega @goingmedieval.bsky.social · 21d

The destruction of the Gaza city mosque is a devastating loss to humanity as a whole. A part of our global medieval heritage destroyed in furtherance to a genocide. I despair.

Andy Khouri @andykhouri.bsky.social · 21d

Built in the 13th century. So that mosque stood for 800 years with every sort of person from every place and every religion in the world passing through Gaza century after century, only for it to be blown up by some shithead loser sitting behind a computer that we probably paid for.

🏳️‍⚧️ Josephine Riesman @josie.zone · 21d

My rage knows no bounds

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Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte @turnbulldugarte.com · Sep 5

Radical right accommodation really does not work.

New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 25d

The BBC is not going to allow us to not elect reform, they have decided.

Patrick Dunleavy @patrickdunleavy.bsky.social · 26d

James Chapman
“Reform featuring in a quarter of all BBC News at Ten bulletins - far more than the Lib Dems, who have 18 times as many MPs, and far too often policy is unscrutinised, according to an authoritative new study. Something’s gone badly wrong at the BBC” www.theguardian.com/media/2025/s...

BBC under fresh pressure over extent of Reform UK coverage

Nigel Farage’s party featured in considerably more News at Ten bulletins than Lib Dems over six months, study finds

www.theguardian.com

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 26d

'"You can’t have hobbyist research that’s unfunded going on in institutions. We can’t afford it.”'

Such a badly formulated phrasing of the issues, so open to so many misinterpretations. If this is the level of thinking about research among sector leaders and policy-makers, be very afraid.

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 26d

Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ .

Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ - Research Professional News

Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · May 28

"Understanding international waves of platform labour unrest"- our new piece in @britsoci.bsky.social's Everyday Society. es.britsoc.co.uk/understandin... Discusses our recent @wesjnl.bsky.social paper "Platform labour unrest in a global perspective: How, where and why do platform workers protest?"

Understanding international waves of platform labour unrest - Everyday Society - The British Sociological Association

How, where and why do platform workers protest? Platform work, exemplified by firms like Uber and Deliveroo, attracts seemingly endless discussion; journalistic, political, and sociological. Policy de...

es.britsoc.co.uk

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Charlie Phillips @charliechar.bsky.social · Sep 1

Don’t ignore that the bbc asked a racist question here

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · Sep 1

Asked by the BBC how he would feel if "your daughter was having to walk past one of these [asylum] hotels every day?" Keir Starmer replies that "I completely get it".

"I understand why people want the hotels closed. I want them closed".

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · Jul 31

Recently accepted at @wesjnl.bsky.social: "What does it mean to be passionate about your job? Three meanings of 'collectively oriented passion' in UK pubs". Pre-print OA here: eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/22...

Picture is of the paper abstract which reads: This article examines how understandings of passion shape people’s agency at work, through interviews with UK publicans. It addresses calls to rethink how “passion” is conceptualised in the sociology of work. While discourses around passion are often thought to legitimise individualised working practices, the article explores more collective interpretations. It analyses how publicans exercised agency in negotiating externally-imposed problems including the pandemic and exploitative relationships with leading industry actors. It identifies a collective understanding of passion centralising notions of community, which shaped participants’ agency in responding to these problems in three ways: providing motivation to persist in the industry; a frame for critiquing perceived injustice and (occasionally) mobilising against it; and a resource for reinvention in pursuing business sustainability. The main contribution is thus new concepts for analysing how “collectively-oriented passion” shapes individuals’ agency at work.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · Jun 30

What's astonishing about this is that "violence against a military force currently shelling civilians at food distribution points in the occupied territory they have been starving out" becomes equivalent to "calling for a genocide". It's just an insane moral reversal of the actual situation.

flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · Jun 29

This looks completely deranged - and it is - but it’s a product of 2018-19, the late Brexit/Corbyn Labour era. Short version: it finally dawned on the lads that they are holding the microphones, so *they decide what the story is*, and how intense it should get. It’s worked very well for them so far.

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Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn.bsky.social · Jun 20

We are witnessing the first livestreamed genocide in history.

Those who facilitate these crimes against humanity should face accountability — not those who have the humanity to oppose them.

End all arms sales to Israel, now.

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Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · Jun 19

Yes. I am right. I am seeing how Chat GPT is ruining students critical thinking and writing skills in real time. It is not the future. It is a tool designed to render the populace helpless, to make people doubt their innate intelligence, and to foster overreliance on technology.

davidpham5 @davidpham5.bsky.social · Jun 19

@roxanegay.bsky.social maybe you’re right.

kottke.org @kottke.org · Jun 19

A new study from MIT’s Media Lab (not yet peer-reviewed & small sample size): ChatGPT May Be Eroding Critical Thinking Skills. [time.com]

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UCU University of Greenwich @ucugreenwich.bsky.social · May 29

www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/2516781... Up to 319 members of staff are at risk, but the university claims most of them are hourly paid so they don't count. We represent ALL members, whatever your contract type. Your job's precarity does NOT make you less valid in our eyes. We see you.

www.newsshopper.co.uk

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · May 28

"Understanding international waves of platform labour unrest"- our new piece in @britsoci.bsky.social's Everyday Society. es.britsoc.co.uk/understandin... Discusses our recent @wesjnl.bsky.social paper "Platform labour unrest in a global perspective: How, where and why do platform workers protest?"

Understanding international waves of platform labour unrest - Everyday Society - The British Sociological Association

How, where and why do platform workers protest? Platform work, exemplified by firms like Uber and Deliveroo, attracts seemingly endless discussion; journalistic, political, and sociological. Policy de...

es.britsoc.co.uk

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · May 19

Israel’s finance minister touts genocide:

"The approach is entirely different from anything in the past… now we conquer, cleanse, and stay… what remains of the Strip is also being wiped out…. The population will reach the south of the Strip – and from there move to third countries.”

"the approach is entirely different from anything in the past. No more raids or in-and-out operations – now we conquer, cleanse, and stay. Until Hamas is destroyed. Along the way, what remains of the Strip is also being wiped out, simply because everything there has become one big terror city."

"This is a dramatic shift from what was done before, and with God's help, it will lead to victory, the destruction of Hamas and the return of the hostages," he added. "As part of the war, the IDF is moving the population out of combat zones and leaving no stone unturned. The population will reach the south of the Strip – and from there, with God's help, move to third countries under President Trump's plan. This is a change in the course of history.

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Jannis J Grimm @jannisgrimm.bsky.social · May 17

Undisguised imperial politics. An entire people being reduced to a geopolitical bargaining chip. Palestine truly has become the breaking point for any semblance of a rules-based international order.

NBC News @nbcnews.com · May 16

BREAKING: The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, five people with knowledge of the effort told NBC News.

Trump administration working on plan to move 1 million Palestinians to Libya

Details are murky and no final agreement has been reached, but the plan is under serious enough consideration that the administration has discussed it with Libyan leadership.

nbcnews.to

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · May 15

Awful news-solidarity to friends at Greenwich and I hope its management sees sense.

Times Higher Education (THE) @timeshighered.bsky.social · May 15

The University of Greenwich is facing a backlash after the UCU accused it of planning to cut more than 300 jobs, equivalent to a quarter of its total workforce

#AcademicSky #EduSky

UCU calls Greenwich a ‘rogue employer’ as 300 job cuts revealed

All of university’s hourly paid lecturers in social sciences set to go under plans that will affect a quarter of workforce

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Chris Havergal @chrishavergal.bsky.social · May 15

University of Greenwich facing backlash over claims it is planning to cut more than 300 jobs, equivalent to a quarter of total workforce www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ucu-cal... via @julietterowsell.bsky.social

UCU calls Greenwich a ‘rogue employer’ as 300 job cuts revealed

All of university’s hourly paid lecturers in social sciences set to go under plans that will affect a quarter of workforce

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · May 15

Here is the grad speech that NYU is now withholding the student's diploma for:

"As I search my heart today in addressing you all…the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine."

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · May 14

“It is astonishing that a Labour government would abandon the labour force of an entire sector. My inbox is filled with individual artists & global companies who are bewildered that the government would allow theft at scale & cosy up to those who are thieving.”

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Ministers block Lords bid to make AI firms declare use of copyrighted content

Government uses arcane procedure to strip amendment passed by House of Lords from its data bill

www.theguardian.com

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · May 9

A true scandal. One of the biggest free speech violations of our lifetimes and yet the people who screamed about free speech on campus for the past decade were either responsible for the violation (Trump, GOP) or ran cover for it and enabled it (Bari Weiss, Fox, etc).

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · May 9

BREAKING: Federal judge in Vermont orders that Rumeysa Ozturk be released from detention "immediately" and on her own recognizance with no travel restrictions.

More to come at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com

Law Dork | Chris Geidner | Substack

The Supreme Court, law, politics, and more. Click to read Law Dork, by Chris Geidner, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

www.lawdork.com

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