Collective bargaining is the most appropriate tool to introduce detailed regulations specific to platform work. However, the status of platform workers (they are usually self-employed), combined with ...EU competition law, constitutes a significant restriction on their collective bargaining rights. Hence, the aim of this article is to prove the thesis that the presumption adopted in the Spanish regulation of recognising platform workers as workers in the strict sense would be a universal solution to the problem of ensuring proper labour protection for this group of workers.
Platform-mediated work is a source of livelihood for millions of workers worldwide. However, because platforms typically classify workers as ‘independent contractors’, those workers are generally ...excluded from the scope of labor rights. This has a corrosive effect on working standards of platform workers, creating the need for an international regulatory framework to prevent a race to the bottom. To address this situation, the article proposes an outline for an International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention for the regulation of platform work going beyond the employee/independent contractor dichotomy. It identifies five core issues in the platform economy – low pay, poor working conditions, inaccessible and unreasonable contracts, unfair management, and a lack of representation – and demonstrates how existing ILO standards could be adapted to address these issues. The proposals are informed by the evidence collected by the Fairwork project through its participatory and multidisciplinary research.
Existing IS research on platform work has narrowly focused on the managerial operations of algorithmic management or its business implications. Limited research has paid attention to the scalar ...effects and societal implications of platform work. In this study, we address the phenomenon of ‘speed’ in the on‐demand economy through a qualitative study of Chinese food delivery workers. We construct a performative view of spatiotemporality to illustrate the reconfiguration of multiple spatiotemporal orders. The paper thus broadens the theorisation of time and space in IS research and provides a more nuanced and critical understanding of platform work against the backdrop of structural inequality in platform capitalism.
This qualitative industry case study evaluates job quality in the Australian platform-based food-delivery sector, one part of the growing gig economy where workers, as independent contractors, engage ...in digitally-enabled and controlled work that is remunerated on a piece rate basis. Using a multi-dimensional framework, we draw on worker accounts of economic security, autonomy and enjoyment to assess job quality. This study posits that to achieve a more refined picture of job quality, both objective and workers’ subjective understandings of work need to be understood in the context of their respective ‘fit’ in terms of individual circumstances, labour market alternatives and the broader socio-political context. This multi-level analysis problematises individual accounts that risk overemphasising the positive elements of platform-based work. Moreover, rather than sitting neatly in a Post- or Neo-Fordist extension of job quality, the findings reveal that the gig economy is a new juncture in capitalist production, the consequences of which need to be taken seriously by regulators, scholars, workers and other relevant stakeholders.
While the gig economy has expanded rapidly in the last decade, few have studied the psychological ramifications of working for an online labor platform. Guided by classical and modern theories of ...work and alienation, we investigate whether engagement in platform work is associated with an increased sense of powerlessness and isolation. We analyze data from two national surveys of workers from the Canadian Quality of Work and Economic Life Study in September 2019 (N = 2,460) and March 2020 (N = 2,469). Analyses reveal greater levels of powerlessness and loneliness among platform workers—a pattern that is not fully explained by their higher levels of financial strain. Additional analyses of platform activity reveal that rideshare driving is more strongly associated with powerlessness and isolation than engagement in online crowdwork. We interpret our findings in light of platform firms’ use of algorithmic control and distancing strategies that may undermine worker autonomy and social connection.
Canada boasts some of the most highly educated migrants in the world, but it is well recognised that these migrants face many labour market barriers to gainful employment despite their experience and ...qualification. Administrative data indicate that the proportion of gig workers is considerably higher among migrants, yet little is known about the various perceived and desired pathways of migrants who choose to pursue platform work. In this inductive, qualitative study, we interviewed 35 platform workers in Canada regarding why and how they turned to such forms of work and how it fits their overall plans for integrating into the Canadian labour market. Adopting a grounded theory approach, we found six pathways into platform work ranging from those who feel in control of the situation as a means to an end, to those who feel trapped in it, unable to find alternatives. We question how these pathways relate to macro factors (e.g. immigration status, professional status), meso factors (e.g. education and skills, networks) or micro factors (e.g. stage in life cycle, aspirations). In our analysis, we consider the critical insights offered by scholars on racial and platform capitalism in understanding the factors impacting migrants’ pathways into platform work in Canada. Our findings suggest that these structural inequalities are further perpetuated within platform work, even though in theory Canada's immigration system is merit-based with emphasis on high human capital. Migrants’ engagement in platform work is a piece of a larger puzzle of segmented labour markets.
The European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on improving working conditions for platform work is probably the most discussed and scrutinized draft of a potential European Union legislative act ...ever. Here, the Directive is analysed from the perspective of the Italian system. We assess the concrete impact at the national level and determine whether Italian lawmakers need to issue new statutes to comply with the Directive and, if so, how the Directive should be implemented properly at the national level. Possible impacts on the law’s interpretations by judges/authorities are considered. The analysis evaluates the Directive from the perspective of its effectiveness in reaching its main goal of “improving working conditions in platform work” in general and considering the Italian legal context in particular. This contribution focuses on Chapter II of the Directive on employment status. Overall, the Directive could alter the traditional classification of working relationships and reinforce the EU embracement of a dichotomic approach, splitting the working relationships into employment and autonomous work. Thus, Italian legal interpreters should commit to connecting their interpretations to those of the Court of Justice of the European Union in all litigations concerning the correct classifications of working relationships. Moreover, lawmakers should avoid a situation in which some platform workers are classified as self-employed within the Italian system when they fall under the Directive’s employment presumption.
Unveiling ‘Algorithm Governance’ Valeria Pulignano
Weizenbaum journal of the digital society,
07/2024, Letnik:
4, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Research on platform work has primarily focused on analyzing how algorithmic management influences working conditions by empowering platforms to govern digitally-delivered services. However, prior ...research has overlooked the crucial aspect of how algorithmic management underlies platforms’ use of diverse contractual forms of employment available in the labor markets from where they source their workforces. Bridging this gap is vital to understanding how labor platforms integrate algorithm management, which employs digitally programmed procedures for coordinating and governing labor input, with various contractual employment structures influenced by regulations and collective actors such as trade unions. Coined as algorithm governance, this phenomenon represents the fusion of algorithm management with contractual employment frameworks, emanating from labor market regulations and policies. This essay pioneers the concept of algorithm governance, illuminating its ontological capacity to enrich debates on algorithm management. Algorithm governance thus explains how algorithm management intricately shapes working conditions by influencing the use of diverse contractual employment forms within the labor market.
In our introduction to this special issue on the gig economy, we provide some context to how and why this phenomenon should be studied, with a particular emphasis on Human Resource Management. We ...then describe the four articles that comprise the special issue, and we note some common themes. Our introduction concludes with some suggestions for future research on the gig economy.
This article examines how trade unions and self-organised worker groups have deployed digital organising tools to collectivise gig work, focusing on rideshare and food delivery platforms. It ...demonstrates the successful actions of worker representatives to improve the working conditions and legal position of platform-based rideshare and food delivery workers in several countries, through: coordinated mobilisation to disrupt the operations of platforms and build campaigns for increased regulation of platform work; strategic litigation to establish useful legal precedents, attract public attention and build solidarity among like-minded workers; and negotiating collective agreements on behalf of gig workers. While deficiencies are identified in the collective bargaining activities of some unions, the article concludes that unions and grass-roots worker groups have played a critical role in contesting the contracting model which lies at the core of gig worker exploitation – and helping them to martial the power obtained through resistance and collective action.
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