Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

Remote workers of the world, unite!

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issue 05 September 2020

A few nights ago on Twitter, I quipped that I was planning to launch a trade union for remote workers. With dues of £10 a year, but membership of 200 million worldwide, I planned to become the Jimmy Hoffa of Zoom (my colleague Jamie McClellan, clearly a Microsoft fan, suggested we call ourselves the Teamsters). If our demands for swivel chairs were not met, we would threaten to homework-to-rule — sitting with our backs to brightly lit windows, perhaps, or running vacuum cleaners in mid-presentation.

But in a way, a million or so Londoners are already doing something similar by refusing to travel to work. This is a white-collar strike — or more accurately a strike by people who normally wear collars demanding the right to work dressed like Dominic Cummings.

If I travel to work to buy a £6 sandwich, yes, I am bailing out Pret A Manger, but I’m also bailing out the Duke of Westminster

And seated beside my brazier (technically a John Lewis firepit), I support my comrades in the remote-worker’s struggle.

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