Conclusion: The rise and growth of the gig economy. Challenges and opportunities for social dialogue and decent work

Abstract

The conclusion synthesizes the main findings of the book regarding the opportunities and obstacles faced by social dialogue and collective organization in the gig economy. In particular, it emphasizes that despite an overall consensus about the precarious working conditions prevailing in the gig economy, responses by social partners, policy-makers and gig workers themselves significantly vary along national contexts and models of industrial relations, sectoral conditions, and gig workers' profiles. Such diversity of realities and viewpoints significantly impacts the opportunity to implement structured social dialogue involving all the parties concerned (trade unions, employers' organizations and policy-makers at sectoral, national and global level) in order to improve social protection, reduce precariousness and achieve decent work in the gig economy. Nonetheless, empirical data illustrate that risks of fragmentation and difficulties of multilevel coordination can be overcome when grass-roots organizations successfully join forces with established trade unions and when initiatives at sectoral level succeed in influencing the policy debate at national and international level. International organizations such as the ILO and the EU, with a strong normative labour-standards agenda, may play a crucial role in promoting such social dialogue.