Alongside others, academics have acutely felt the isolation generated by the pandemic lockdowns. For many of us, one of the most cherished aspects of the scholarly pursuit is the exchange of ideas with colleagues. These personal interactions allow ideas that have been gestating in our minds to reach the outside world and then become honed through debate and discussion. To recreate such a space, members of the Moving Labour Collective decided to host an online discussion about the implications of COVID-19 for labour – its embodied practices, their regulation, and the theoretical and activist engagements with both. The Moving Labour Collective is a community of academics interested in critical labour research, open to both trade unionists and activists. We live and work in a number of different countries—Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Italy, and the United Kingdom—and this diversity added a measure of perspective, and we hope, richness to our discussion. Below is an edited transcript of this dialogue. By publishing its contents, we hope to engage others in the conversation.
Published on the website: Futures of Work, ISSUE 16 // 1ST OCTOBER 2020.
Article by the Moving Labour Collective.