Worker solidarity among gig and precarious workers

Abstract

This chapter provides examples of how the inherent contradictions of the labour process in the gig economy provide the potential for the emergence of solidarity and resistance even in the ‘brave new world’ of the platform economy and of the mechanisms through which gig workers solidarities are forged, enacted, and contested across different social contexts. It describes work in the gig economy through the lenses of labour process theory. The chapter explains the emergence of solidarity and resistance in the gig economy, drawing empirical illustrations from the growing literature on the topic. The term ‘gig economy’ covers a broad array of work activities and different types of platforms. The individualisation of the work activity is further reinforced by the individualisation of employment relations which most platforms seek to apply. The features of the labour process in the gig economy shape the possibility for emergence of workers’ solidarity.