Using one sex worker-led collective as a case example, this paper explores how feminism, precarious work and entrepreneurialism coexist together in contradictory ways. I begin by highlighting how ...freelance work within UK strip clubs creates precarity and hostile work environments for sex workers when coupled with exploitative managerial practices; however, when similar, equally precarious gig work and promotional activities are combined with sex worker-led collectivist practices, they can instead be used to advance feminist politics. The paper then shifts to a discussion of how the transformative potential of the sex worker collective and their efforts to fight for labour rights and safer working conditions are continually and violently undermined by the feminism of those outside the stripping industry and with access to more privilege, power, and resources. While there are many different feminisms, the article ends by arguing for the ongoing need to seek some reconciliation within the movement to ensure that the voices and concerns of those most marginalised remain at the centre of politics and action.
This paper recalls some of the steps that led to the first experiments of collective bargaining within the food delivery sector in Italy. Riders’ conditions became public knowledge following a cycle ...of mobilisation that signalled the absence of rights within the gig economy. The dispute took on central importance as it became a symbol of precariousness and lack of protection of large sectors of the labour market. After numerous strikes, something has been done in legislative and contractual domains. A territorial agreement was signed in Bologna; a round table was convened at the Ministry of Labour, but it failed due to the divergent positions of social partners. Ultimately a law, that has its merits and demerits, was approved. Some companies signed an agreement with a union considered by many to be unrepresentative, which appeared to be an attempt to avoid the rules of labour law. This was followed by a new wave of protests. As a result, the first collective agreement - signed by main unions and a large company - finally recognised that riders were employees with all rights.
The essay deals with the supplementary agreement of 29 March 2021, signed by Just Eat Takeaway with the logistics trade unions belonging to Cgil, Cisl and UIL, from the point of view of the legal ...representative of the company. The author points out that, in particular, the agreement has made possible, among the first experiences in Italy, the coexistence between the so-called gig economy and the rights of employees.
The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the labor market and given rise to the Great Resignation. Drawing on a mixed methods panel study of 199 precarious and gig-based workers, we analyze how a ...changing conception of free time during the Covid-19 pandemic led low-wage service workers to seek more fulfilling careers. Whereas most workers initially perceived free time in terms of opportunity costs, they later reconceived this time as enabling an investment in personal growth, moving from “spending time” making money to “investing time” in themselves. This shift in temporal experience is expressed through the adoption of a “work passion” logic and “pandemic epiphanies” that motivated respondents to seek self-affirming and potentially more lucrative work opportunities.
L'arrivée des plateformes numériques dans le paysage du travail canadien s'accompagne d'un recours croissant aux conventions imposant l'arbitrage (ou clauses compromissoires) comme mode de résolution ...des conflits. Les travailleurs de plateformes souhaitant faire reconnaître leur statut de salarié au sens des lois sur les normes d'emploi doivent donc s'adresser à un forum privé, parfois situé à l'extérieur du Canada. C'est dans ce contexte que l'invalidation d'une telle clause dans l'affaire Heller v Uber Technologies Inc par la Cour d'appel d'Ontario prend toute son importance. La Cour suprême ayant accepté d'entendre l'appel, empruntera-t-elle la voie du droit américain et permettra-t-elle que ces clauses fassent obstacle aux recours collectifs revendiquant la reconnaissance du statut de salarié? Notre étude des jugements tant ontariens qu'américains sur la validité des clauses compromissoires liant Uber à ses chauffeurs révèle, à cet égard, le caractère déterminant de l'approche choisie par les tribunaux. MOTS-CLES : arbitrage ou clause compromissoire, accès à la justice, statut des travailleurs, plateformes numériques, mode de résolution des conflits, ontario, États-Unis. With the introduction of digital platforms in the Canadian labour law's landscape comes an increased used of agreements imposing arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism. To challenge their classification as independent workers and gain employment standards acts' protection, gig workers therefore need to submit their disputes to a private proceeding, often located outside Canada. It is in this context that the ontario Court of Appeal's decision to invalidate the arbitration clause in Heller v Uber Technologies Inc must be read. Having granted leave for appeal, will the Supreme Court of Canada follow in the footsteps of American law and allow mandatory arbitration agreements to impede collective actions challenging the misclassification of gig workers? our study of the ontarian and American decisions regarding the validity of mandatory arbitration agreements between Uber and its drivers brings to light the determining impact of the approach chosen by courts. KEYWORDS: arbitration clause, access to justice, status of platform workers, dispute resolution mechanism, ontario, United States.
Online food delivery has transformed the last-mile of food and grocery delivery, with unnoticed yet often significant impacts upon the transport and logistics network. This new model of food delivery ...is not just increasing congestion in urban centers though, it is also changing the contours and qualities of those doing delivery-namely through gig economy work. This new system of food consumption and provision is rapidly gaining traction, but assessments around its current and future sustainability tend to hold separate the notions of social, environmental and economic sustainability-with few to date working to understand how these can interact, influence and be in conflict with one another. This paper seeks to work with this broader understanding of sustainability, whilst also foregrounding the perspectives of gig economy couriers who are often marginalized in such assessments of the online food delivery system. We make use of systems thinking and Campbell's conflict model of sustainability to do this. In assessing the online food delivery in this way, we seek to not only provide a counternarrative to some of these previous assessments, but to also challenge those proposing the use of gig economy couriers as an environmentally sustainable logistics intervention in other areas of last-mile logistics to consider how this might impact the broader sustainability of their system, now and in the future.
Much has been written about the precarious nature of platform work, whether in high-income or less advanced economies. The lack of alternative employment opportunities and the high level of informal ...work in the latter are often assumed to be the key incentive for local workers to take on platform work. There is however little research on how exactly local conditions affect workers’ choices and most importantly on the factors making them accept the precariousness of platform labour. Based on 40 interviews with ride-hailing drivers in Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia, this article argues that, rather than the lack of alternative opportunities, the poor quality of available jobs and the lack of social protection are the factors leading workers to accept and internalise precariousness, making the inherent features of app-based work seem normal.
This article explores algorithmically created personalized wages: what they are, what they mean, and what we can do about them. First, it establishes a taxonomy of five different forms of algorithmic ...wage differentiation: productivity-based wage adjustments, wages shifted through incentive bonuses and demerits, behavioral wages, dynamic wages, and wages shifted to conduct an experiment. It argues that these techniques are likely to spread from gig work to the formal employment context. Second, it argues that the spread of these techniques has democratic implications. They will increase economic and racial inequality. They will harm labor solidarity. Perhaps most importantly, they put workers in a profoundly humiliating position in relationship to their boss, one where speech and autonomy are discouraged because they can lead to lowered pay. Finally, it argues that we should understand these developments as innovations in power and domination and use old antimonopoly strategies as ways to limit the democratic downsides of these tools. We should explore bans or limits on first-degree labor pricing discrimination and enhanced antitrust enforcement.
Finding limited representation in established unions, a growing number of precarious and migrant workers of the gig economy have been turning to self-organization. Yet little is known about how these ...workers can compensate for their lack of material resources and institutional support and negotiate effectively with employers. Drawing on interviews, frame, and content analysis grounded in ethnographic research with the precarious and migrant workers of British ‘indie’ unions, we examine the significance of self-mediation practices in facilitating effective negotiations. We find that the effectiveness of campaigns can be enhanced by strategically integrating vibrant direct action of workers and allies with self-mediated messages, which are framed to resonate with the general public and mainstream media – a practice that we call communicative unionism. These findings extend labour movement scholarship by showing the analytical importance of considering workers’ discursive power-building practices. They also contribute to addressing social movement studies’ historical neglect of workers’ collective engagements with employers.
