As Marx put it, capital has ‘a constant tendency towards increasing the productivity of labour in order to cheapen commodities and, by cheapening commodities, to cheapen the worker himself’. Universities are not exempt from the pressures of extractive capitalism, but take part in the drive for productivity through the cheapening of their workers. According to the University and College Union, 68 per cent of academics are on fixed-term contracts; many of them last only ten months, coming to an end in June and restarting in September, or worse (I’ve heard of colleagues getting laid off for the Christmas break). Hourly-paid lecturers who cobble together full-time workloads may earn less than £10,000 a year. Staff at Leeds have spoken of relying on food banks or not being able to afford heating. One university tutor had to live in a tent while doing her PhD research; another slept on the floor of the library because they couldn’t afford accommodation in the town where they had a short-term lectureship.
