Guest Lecture: Vampire capitalism and union-based commoning in response to precarious worker commutes within and beyond the city

  • Prof. Darrin Hodgetts, Massey University New Zealand
  • July 6, 2026, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
  • SFU Berlin, Campus Tempelhof, Columbiadamm 10, Turm 9, 12101 Berlin

Abstract 
To function as contemporary engines of inequity, neoliberalized cities rely on low-income care, security and process workers who often face considerable stressors getting to-and-from work. Despite the longstanding efforts of commoning movements such as unions, these workers are not afforded adequate compensation for travel costs. This Participative Action Research is based on peer facilitated interviews and mapping exercises with 12 members of the E Tū union in Aotearoa New Zealand regarding their precarious commutes.
Informed by assembling thinking, we document emergent everyday time and place dynamics as experienced by these low-income workers in arranging their commutes. Findings offer insights into the relational, material and spatial elements of precariat work mobilities within and beyond urban cityscapes. Acting as contemporary ‘scribes’, the authors developed research findings to assist union advocacy for better employment conditions for workers. Findings advance Urban Studies debates on urban commons by conceptualizing commuting as an infrastructural commons and unions as institutions of urban commoning.

CV Prof. Darrin Hodgetts (pdf)

 

Department Psychology
Sigmund Freud Private University Berlin
Campus Tempelhof
Columbiadamm 10, Tower 9
12101 Berlin – Tempelhof

Tel.: +49(0)30 695 797 28-0
E-Mail: psychologie@sfu-berlin.de