Labour in Pandemic Capitalism

Abstract

This article aims to point out some of the main destructive trends in relation to the working class that, although not caused by the covid-19 pandemic, are being widely intensified amid this health crisis. Thus, the intention is to show that the antisocial metabolism of the capital system has been developing ‘laboratories’ to experiment with labour, driven by large corporations and digital platforms, of which ‘Uberised work’ and remote working from home are examples, and that these trends have tended to expand in the post-pandemic period, further aggravating the precarious conditions of the working class on a global scale. Long working hours, intense forms of exploitation and the complete lack of labour rights constitute some of the main proofs of these precarious conditions, resulting in the elimination of large sectors of the working class that have become superfluous and disposable, thus increasing unemployment.