Tom Humberstone’s Just Work: The Gig Economy, Platform Capitalism and the Battle for Worker Rights is not simply representative of his graphic journalism. It’s also a fine example of how this long-time fixture of the UK indie scene uses comics as activism, employing their particular communicative strengths to inform and educate with an accessible delivery. In Just Work Humberstone looks at a very modern phenomenon – the rise of the app-driven delivery rider – and how they epitomise one of the most controversial employment practices of our time. Summed up, of course, in the ominous phrase “the gig economy.”
Honing in on those riders working for companies like Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat Humberstone begins by exploring the history of courier services in Edinburgh, where he is based. The parallels with the modern-day gig workers end at attempts to unionise because, of course, in the world of app platforms workers are kept in isolation from each other making organisation difficult. It’s a sobering read, from violence against riders to deliberate manipulation of the system to minimise payments, through to the lack of legal employment protections others take for granted to unfair and often unexplained penalties.
It’s all a damning indictment on platform capitalism but also a reminder that we can’t compartmentalise the casual erosion of workers’ rights and think if unchallenged it won’t eventually affect us all. Humberstone takes a brief sidestep into the world of AI to remind us of the companies who are using a fundamentally anti-worker technology to do similar things. Just Work ends with a very basic plea for the kind of respect and fairness that we all deserve in our working lives. A simple truth but one that is being constantly chipped away at as end stage capitalism moves into the eating itself alive phase.
As ever Humberstone’s art has a clarity and a clean line that conveys its message with a powerful and very human level of accessibility. A blend of realism and visual metaphor is on show here, allowing him to make his points on multiple levels. Again, coming back to that idea of activism, Humberstone has made this important piece of investigative comics available to read for free on his website, to download for free or for a self-determined price as a PDF, or to buy in print (details below). It’s indicative of a commitment to prioritising the story of the riders first and foremost. A wholly admirable motivation in and of itself.
Tom Humberstone (W/A) • Self-published
Review by Andy Oliver
