Counter-app (2/4): What is Uberisation?
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ETUI
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🗓️ 12 January 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
STRUCTURE
Introduction: 00:00 to 00:54
00:55 to 2:32: Part 1: What is Uberisation?
02:33 to 07:25: Part 2: What makes an industry vulnerable to Uberisation?
07:26 to 09:58: Part 3: 5 industries vulnerable to Uberisation - 1) Education
09:59 to 11:58: 2) Mental health care
11:59 to 14:31: 3) Music
14:32 to 17:10: 4) Agency work
17:11 to 21:52: 5) Data annotation
21:53 to 23:25: Part 4: De-Uberisation
23:26 to 23:56: Outro
CREDITS
Background music: ‘Embrace’, by Evgeny Bardyuzha (downloaded with a creative commons licence from pixabay.com).
Interviews with Samantha Howe, Linas Mazgeika, Elmar Smid and Jonas Valente were conducted in person at the ETUC ‘Platforum’ in Nicosia, Cyprus, September 25-26. Thanks to all.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipFPXFIKouc
Finweek Magazine (2016). ‘finweek Money Matters: The "Uber" for handymen’. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTYgUJCPY_E
DownieLive (2023). ‘I tried the "UBER" for PRIVATE JETS!’ Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq8CA2-y4FQ
The Rideshare Guy (2022). ‘People Are Doing LAUNDRY For Others As A SIDE HUSTLE! - "The Uber for Laundry”’. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO2NG8NxGwA
DRONE ON Podcast (2025). ‘Spexi: Why the Uber for Drone Data thinks the World Map Needs an Upgrade | DRONE ON’. Youtube
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMIcmYOBd-E
House of New Mobility (2016). ’CES16 - URGENT.LY: We are the Uber for tow trucks’. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lJjB3ormB4
Kate Ferguson (2024). ‘How online therapy became big business’. DW News.
https://www.dw.com/en/online-therapy-has-become-a-billion-dollar-business/video-70805828
BetterHelp (2025). ‘Get Matched With a Therapist That Fits Your Needs, Style, and Goals’. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJE55BNmo2E
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WDGVPNrgQI
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to counter app, a series of podcasts about how app-based workers can counter the power of their algorithmic bosses. |
| 0:21.6 | My name is Ben Ray, I'm a journalist and researchers specialising in the platform economy. |
| 0:27.6 | In this second episode of Counter-App, we will explore what is Uberization? |
| 0:35.6 | How can we spot Uberization coming? |
| 0:40.6 | Which industries have high vulnerability to Uberization? And how can trade unions respond |
| 0:47.6 | effectively to Uberization? |
| 1:01.0 | Part 1. What is Uberization? Uber for tow trucks is the handy analogy. |
| 1:05.0 | The Uber for potatoes. |
| 1:06.0 | The Uber for drone data. |
| 1:08.0 | So there's the Uber of laundry, people. |
| 1:10.0 | The app is like the Uber for private jets. |
| 1:13.1 | Joining us to tell us more about this Uber for handyman. Kind of think of us as like the Uber, |
| 1:18.2 | but for videographers and photographers. Over the past 15 years, we've heard about the Uberization |
| 1:24.2 | of this industry or that industry. But what actually is Uberization? |
| 1:29.3 | Uberization is the spread of digital platforms specifically designed for the buying and selling of labor |
| 1:37.3 | across the economy and society. The difference between a digital labor platform compared to a standard capitalist business model is profound. |
| 1:47.0 | Just some of the features typically associated with digital labour platforms are bogus self-employment, |
| 1:55.0 | being paid per task rather than per hour, opaque algorithmic management practices, flexibility in your working schedule, |
| 2:03.6 | low buyers to entry for workers, intensive digital surveillance, an aggressive relationship to government |
| 2:10.6 | regulation, especially labour laws, and anti-trade union practices. In brief, Uberized work is precarious work. |
| 2:20.1 | It's something that you don't want to happen to your job |
| 2:22.7 | or to your kid's job. |
... |
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