Hiding behind the platform: the myth of flexibility for gig workers in Indonesia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mainstream arguments hold that the digital gig economy has been a boon for countries with high levels of unemployment, and some have even deemed it the future of work. Online platform companies handling transportation, courier and food delivery services – such as Gojek, Grab and Maxim – have similarly built narratives that the drivers who become their partners will enjoy flexible working conditions. Using a structural analysis of flexible work mechanisms in the digital gig economy, this article explores the asymmetrical power of gig workers and online platform companies. Taking a post-positivist approach, the data in this research were collected through interviews with 290 platform drivers. The results show that the structural situation, wherein extensive reserves of labour exist and workers’ power is weak, has created a significant power asymmetry between gig workers and platform companies. The impact of this asymmetry of power makes the flexibility promised to gig workers a myth and actually increases precarity for workers.