Platform Labour Research Articles

Between acceptance and resistance: Conceptualising migrant platform labour agency in Chile

AbstractDigital labour platforms are transforming labour markets worldwide, and migrant workers are pivotal in this transformation. Drawing on a qualitative study in Chile, we uncover how Latin American and Caribbean migrants navigate and resist platform labour conditions, considering the algorithmically controlled and surveilled aspects of food delivery platforms, as well as the impact of migration status on their work. We contend that understanding migrant labour agency requires examining both the platforms' socio‐technical structures and the host country's migration policies. These policies determine workers' migration status, shape their work experiences, and consequently impact their resistance to precarious labour conditions. We introduce the concept of migrant platform labour agency to illustrate the various forms of resistance migrants employ in navigating the platform labour market. This concept contributes to understanding the nuances in migrants' labour agencies, which range from acceptance to resistance, considering the interplay between the migration policy environment and platforms' socio‐technical assemblage.

Researching Care Platforms: Methodological and Ethical Considerations in the Broad Field of Domestic Platform Labour

This article presents a methodological reflection on the challenges of researching domestic and care work mediated by digital labour platforms. While knowledge production on gig work in the logistics sector has soared, research on care platforms is slow to catch up, especially in very relational forms of home-based work, such as eldercare. We take this uneven development in the literature as a starting point to unpack the empirical conundrums in this field. Drawing on our own experience with trying to recruit care platform workers in Germany between 2019 and 2024, we shed light on the ethical dilemmas we encountered and offer some lessons learnt. The article calls for long-term commitments, multi-sited ethnographies, longitudinal perspectives and mixed-methods designs to study care platforms in the future. Finally, we advocate for researching platform labour beyond the gig.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of platform labour: short-term rental cleaning labour intermediaries and student-migrant-workers

ABSTRACT Although short-term rental platforms (e.g. Airbnb) are often not considered labour platforms, their suppliers must contend with demands on labour structured by the platforms. Using Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis, this article examines the spatio-temporal dynamics of cleaning labour for STR platforms through the experiences of student-migrant-workers in Montreal between 2017 and 2020. I argue that yield-focused STR operators (i.e. owner-operators and managers) encounter spatio-temporal friction (or arrhythmia) in their efforts to outsource STR cleaning labour, but some labour intermediaries have responded with strategies to bring this conflict into harmony (eurhythmia) by incorporating the lives and labour of student-migrant-workers. At once limited in their employment options and not exclusively dependent on this work, student-migrant-workers illustrate characteristics that these intermediaries require of the workers they assemble and the flexible labour force upon which STR platforms depend. Rather than replacing labour intermediaries, online platforms have created new spatio-temporal dynamics for labour and new opportunities for those who profit from assembling the labour forces that address them.

The time-space-energy nexus in the gig economy: the work and everyday lives of migrant food delivery ‘walkers’ in Venice

ABSTRACT The intersection of migrant labour and the gig economy is a field of growing interest. Although there is no comprehensive public data on the topic, current studies show that platform labour in urban gig economies is often carried out by migrants. While uberised work has been quite extensively analysed, the dimensions of everyday life and time are still little studied. This paper aims to fill this gap, looking at the convergence of migrant labour, the gig economy, everyday life, and time. The authors present a time-space-energy nexus to illustrate the constant assembling of working and non-working times by workers and the potential tensions arising from the algorithmic managerial model of work. Specific attention is given to how migrant couriers organise the times and spaces of their everyday lives within platform-mediated food delivery in Venice. To explore this topic, a qualitative-ethnographic investigation was carried out in the historic centre of Venice from January to June 2022. This article highlights the features and tendencies of the food delivery sector in Venice, in order to show how the particular forms that migrant worker/runners’ living and working conditions take contradict the supposed flexibility proposed by digital platforms.

Editors’ Note: Introduction to the Thematic Issue on Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Platform Labour

Editors’ Note: Introduction to the Thematic Issue on Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Platform Labour

THE GIG ECONOMY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON CONTRACT LABOR LAWS

This paper analyses the effect of gig economy on contract labour laws. The gig economy has changed the nature of work, placed established employment models to the test, and brought up significant issues about the suitability of current contract labour rules. According to the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act of 2008, a wage worker, self-employed individual, or someone working from home is referred to as an "unorganised worker." Although gig workers may not be included in this definition, they do fit under the second clause, which defines gig workers as those for whom no labour code defines the term. They are referred to as "platform workers" since their employment is dependent on platforms and they are hired by businesses using digital apps. Rajasthan is the first state in India to develop legislation protecting gig workers and giving them access to sufficient regulatory frameworks to stop exploitation of their freelance. This paper examines several gig economy issues while accounting for the growing demand for platform labour. It also offers a well-thought-out system for harmonious interactions between the aggregator and worker, as well as specific actions to meet these workers' demands. When the COVID-19 pandemic stuck, a large portion of the gig economy flourished since it was useful for delivering food, necessities, and transportation services, which were severely disrupted. The research's focus is restricted to talking about the problems that platform workers—individuals who work for aggregators like Swiggy, Ola, Uber, and so on—face and offering potential fixes.The paper investigates how the gig economy may affect contract labour laws. It does so by looking at the particulars of gig employment, how different jurisdictions have responded to regulations, and the opportunities and problems that may arise in providing gig workers with adequate safeguards. To meet the characteristics of this developing labour market, it also evaluates the necessity of regulatory adjustments. This article clarifies the intricacies of gig labour in India by thoroughly examining the rules governing labour today, such as the Code on Wages, and how they relate to gig workers.

Understanding Racism in Digital Capitalism. Racialisation and De-Racialisation in Platform Economies, Infrastructural Racism and Algorithmic Opacity

Recent literature has argued that digital technologies reinforce existent inequalities along race, class and gender. However, the relationship between digital capitalism and racism is yet to be explored in depth. How does digitalisation rework social relations and social cooperation to produce new forms of racialised hierarchisation and differentiation? The article is based on an international project on platform labour spanning seven European cities. It focuses on the sector of ride-hailing in Berlin and analyses the interactions between processes of platformisation and (de-)racialisation. Finally, it shows how racism becomes infrastructural when platforms organise its circulation.

Platformlar ve Ekonomi Politiğin Eleştirisi

The study of platforms, or multi-sided markets, has seen exponential growth in economics, media studies, social sciences, and humanities. However, the critical political economy of media has been relatively quiet, with notable exceptions in areas such as platform capitalism, imperialism and especially platform labour and gig work. However, traditional Marxian production, often taken as the starting point, relies on the labour theory of value and struggles to capture all platform specificities. Due to their integrated understanding of production and circulation of value, I will argue that New Readings of Marx and Open Marxism help study platforms as linchpins of internet user lifeworlds and the global economy. In this literature, capitalism is analysed as a historically specific social form of production. Additionally, these approaches can address some theoretical problems that occasionally occur with related Marxian theories, such as unpaid digital labour, rent, and techno-feudalism. In that sense, this paper aims to contribute to the critical political economy of the media and the study of platforms by bringing previously neglected theoretical approaches to the centre stage and unpacking platforms as social forms of production and circulation in contemporary capitalism.

Platform labour on the margins and beyond the digital realm: Mapping the landscape of “platform-generated labour” in the digitally mediated short-term rental market.

This paper explores the landscape of labour in the platform economy and, more specifically, the ways local economic activities and actors are exposed to pressures of platformisation, building on the case of the Airbnb platform and the digitally-mediated short-term rental (STR) market in Athens. Conceptualising STR networks as infrastructural assemblages and through a qualitative study building on 27 semi-structured interviews with relevant actors, I focus on: tracing the wide range of workers who undertake essential tasks, the employment statuses, compensations and modes of engagement of workers, restrictions and gender-dimensions, as well as the content and attributes of STR-related work. My main argument is built around the notion of ‘platform worker’ and the need to expand it beyond workers that are directly related to the platforms, in order to include the on-site labour force upon which the creation and everyday operation of broader platform ecosystems and related infrastructure are depended.

EdTech-mediated outsourcing and casualisation of academic labour

Located at the intersection of scholarship on critical higher education (HE), the casualisation of the academic workforce and studies of digitalisation and online platforms in Higher Education (HE), this article examines the impact of online programme management companies (OPMs) on academic labour. OPMs partner with universities to provide core teaching functions while relying on the labour of increasingly casualised, often outsourced academics. We use a composite case study to illustrate how OPMs work in partnerships with universities to reorganise academic work. We discuss this model vis-a-vis the theoretical concepts in the digital HE, platform labour and sociology of work literature, elaborating on how the new forms of casualised labour in HE undergo real subsumption by technology-mediated programmes operated by OPMs. On this foundation, we discuss the possible implications and draw out questions for future research and trade union activity, two arenas where, we argue, more attention needs to be paid urgently to casualisation and the outsourcing of teaching through digital platform-mediated programmes.

Speeding up, slowing down, losing grip: On digital media metronomes and timespace friction in the platformised temporalities of fashion design

The body of literature addressing platform capitalism, platform labour and platform urbanism paints a compelling picture of how digital platforms shape the dynamics of both leisure and labour within the framework of the platform’s model for extracting value. However, this literature rarely captures how the global timespaces of digital platforms are translated in platform-mediated fields of work and which frictions occur in this process. Therefore, the contrasts between the rhythms of the platform prompting users towards instantaneous data production and the production capabilities of the humans, whose daily (work) life has become dependent on such platforms, remain largely unexplored. In this article, I develop the lens of timespace friction, by integrating the existing research on platform labour with a timespace perspective. The aim is to present a framework that reveals the contrasting relationship between the conflating rhythms of platform capitalism and platform-mediated labour. The mechanisms are explored utilising an ethnographic case study of the digital labour of independent fashion designers on Instagram. The proposed perspective on timespace friction demonstrates that mobile apps function as metronomes, nudging the timespaces of daily (work) life. Timespaces are thus negotiated in the polyrhythmic encounters of daily life, where designers challenge the rhythms of the platform or accelerate their practices to follow the imposed pace. A timespace friction perspective therefore sees beyond the smooth operating mechanisms of the platform economy that promise real-time data, flexibility and efficiency, revealing the hidden struggles of synchronisation (speeding up), de-synchronisation (slowing down) and losing grip (going viral).

Social media and platform work: Stories, practices, and workers’ organisation

This article introduces the special issue, ‘Social Media and Platform Work: Stories, Practices, and Workers’ Organisation’. In recent years, platform labour studies have increasingly focused on how the growing platformisation of labour has changed work activities, labour processes, work organising, identities, and collectivities. The literature has highlighted the role of media, communication, and social media in platform labour, but more research is needed on these interrelationships. Precisely, the analysis of platform work is necessary due to its complexity and interest in political, economic, social, cultural, and health terms. Throughout the special issue, different contributions are presented that analyse how the emergence of these new jobs brings a set of inequalities that complexify the notion of ‘work’ and dilute workers’ rights, leading to a precarious situation. The use of social media plays a crucial role in the platformisation of labour as it enables the creation of social relationships between workers but also opens the door to communicating, disseminating their work, and even learning informally and about their work. However, the use of social media can also lead to a precarious combination of platform work and content creation – or cultural production. In this regard, it is worth noting to analyse and approach the relationship between platform work and social networks precisely by addressing both perspectives, considering possible vulnerabilities derived from these situations and situations of precariousness.

Platform Labour Unrest in a Global Perspective: How, Where and Why Do Platform Workers Protest?

Labour unrest by platform workers is a growing global phenomenon, but several questions require deeper understanding. What motivates platform labour unrest? Which actors and strategies are involved? How does this vary across regions? Systematic answers are hindered by the lack of large datasets. Uniquely, this article analyses a global dataset comprising 1271 instances of platform labour unrest. It reveals two main dimensions of platform labour struggle: those defending or extending protective regulatory institutions (regulatory protests); and those seeking a larger share of value created (distributive protests). The former more often involve mainstream unions and methods like legal challenges. The latter more often involve grassroots organisation, and the collective withdrawal of labour and demonstrations. Theoretically, the article elaborates on Silver’s distinction between Marx-type and Polanyi-type labour unrest to explain and contextualise these findings. These patterns reveal variation within the growing wave of platform labour unrest that have not yet been systematically examined.

Rethinking algorithmic management in minor key: The case of housecleaning platform labour in Denmark

Algorithmic management has been a prominent focus of platform labour studies and is lately receiving increasing academic and policymaking interest. Conceptualisations of algorithmic management are mainly premised on ridehailing, crowdwork and food delivery platform research, while literature on algorithmic management of housecleaning and domestic work platforms is limited. This article draws on research in housecleaning platform labour in Denmark, demonstrating how algorithmic management unfolds in these platforms, which are the institutional devices which support algorithms in practice, and how platform workers experience, make sense of and resist this type of management. The analysis of the findings highlights two factors that greatly influence the algorithmic management process. The first is the role of customer support departments in underpinning – and sometimes substituting – the functions widely considered to be carried out by algorithms. The second factor is that intersectional subjectivities of – predominantly migrant and female – workers of Danish housecleaning platforms affect the ways in which workers experience and respond to their algorithmic management. The article concludes in proposing minor algorithmic management, as a concept more fitting to simultaneously describe the entanglement of human, social, and algorithmic components comprising housecleaning platforms’ algorithmic management and the contingent nature of migrant platform housecleaners’ compliance with such management.

Pressure Power Parity Insufficiency of Protection for the Digital Labour and Workers of the Gig Economy and the Dire Requirement of the Changes in the New Labour Code

Abstract The labour jurisprudence through a wide-ranging literature has approached the topic from different angles and categorized the term worker as either an independent contractor or as an employee. This definition of worker does very little to nothing in the lives of the workers of new forms of labour. There has been in the rise an emergence of the new forms of labour which is an umbrella term that also includes the gig worker and platform labour under the term. This shift in the workforce has enabled them to have a source of income and flexibility and has caused a huge increase in the gig workers at more than 17% CAGR [Compound Annual Growth Rate] has made the lawmakers difficult to classify them under the current law. The new amendment brought out in the parliament has proposed to codify the labour laws. law which is supposed to govern the gig worker has not clearly defined them in the definition. The new code which is supposed to clear the confusion has brought more mist in the terms of definition of who is a “gig worker” and “platform worker” which allows it to open interpretation, which makes the code still archaic and incomplete. Even the new bill fails to provide clarity regarding the workers of the new forms. This paper tries to analyse the current situation of the gig worker more exactly the platform workers and what would be the implication of the new labour code in the lives of the gig workers. This paper also proposes a separate bill that shall solely deal with that of the workers of the newer forms of business which shall be included in the new labour code.

Solidarity and collective issues in remote crowd work: A mixed methods study of the Amazon Mechanical Turk online forum

AbstractThe article deals with collective issues and emerging forms of solidarity in remote crowd work. Using the example of the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform, we analyse communication in one of the oldest online labour forums (OLF) with a mixed‐methods‐approach (web scraping, topic modelling and qualitative content analysis) over a 10‐year period. We identify six broader themes of collective relevance whose importance varies over time. The results indicate that elements of solidarity emerge as crowd workers communicate about deprivations, develop collective orientations, and invoke injustice frames. However, there are no indications of more profound collective activities, which may be due to different types of crowd workers, some of whom have conflicting orientations. We develop assumptions about restrictions of OLF in facilitating collective action and tasks for organisers. The research contributes to a better understanding of mobilisation issues in remote platform labour.

Platforms in the city and cities at the service of platforms: An urban perspective on the platform economy and workers’ responses

AbstractThe social and economic impacts of the emerging platform economy are most obvious in urban settings, where platforms are giving rise to unfamiliar dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, cooperation and division, as well as social and political integration and fragmentation. Platform urbanisation has created a new and unprecedented kind of politics. It has given rise to new political spaces and new subjectivities, resulting in a permanent reorganisation of ‘historical’ assemblages of territory, authority and rights. Drawing on the results of the European-based PLUS Project (Platform Labour in Urban Spaces: Fairness, Welfare, Development), this themed collection offers a fresh perspective on the platform economy by analysing it in terms of the relationship between urban contexts and the ongoing platformisation process, with an emphasis on how this relationship is reshaping (platform) labour and reconfiguring (or even reinvigorating) social action. Along the way, the articles in this issue consider whether platforms are useful for the development of urban environments and labour markets, or whether urban environments and labour markets are useful for the development of platforms. Likewise, they seek to identify the conditions under which relevant actors can mobilise and build alliances to ensure that such forms of development can be made to benefit not only workers but also (urban) citizens and the (urban) environment in general.

Platform labour in contexts of high informality: Any improvement for workers? A critical assessment based on the case of Argentina

AbstractThe article analyses the effects of digital labour platforms in a context characterised by high informality, exploring the way platforms may or may not imply a disruption in this respect. To do so, it examines the labour transitions that lead to platform labour, taking into account the formal status of workers before and after joining platforms, as well as their evaluation of resulting labour conditions. The article relies on a quantitative survey and in depth interviews for three on‐demand occupations in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, ride‐hailing, home repairs and domestic service. Results show that a platform's influence on the formal status of workers (and their assessment of it) is highly contingent upon: the platform's business model, including the legal status that may be used to integrate the workforce, the pre‐existing formal/informal dynamics within the occupation and the general labour market situation.

Citizen‐rentier‐ship: Delivering the Undocumented to Labour Platforms in Paris

AbstractPlatform food delivery workers have been under much scrutiny over the last couple of years. Undocumented riders, and their recent strikes and protests in France, have not received as much attention as other issues regarding platform labour (contract work, algorithmic control, surveillance). This article follows fieldwork conducted in Paris and interviews with food couriers. Building on work by critical urban studies, migration studies and science and technology studies, this research puts forward citizen‐rentier‐ship, a tool to understand how multiple parties profit from aspects of precarious status. Interviews with undocumented couriers who worked in Paris highlight how the subletting of accounts, the complicit role of the state, the hypocrisy of employers and the interdependency with the “regularised” put undocumented couriers in hyper‐precarious situations. This article concludes that labour laws, misclassification and migration policies are at the centre of the struggles of Paris’ delivery workers and that they need changes.

Exit, voice, and loyalty in the platform economy of Bologna city

AbstractIn the article, we will explore the impact of platform labour on urban spaces and the new frontiers of unionism by leveraging a ground analysis and theoretical elaborations from the PLUS project. PLUS was designed to analyse the impact of four platforms (Uber, Airbnb, Helpling, and Deliveroo) in seven European cities (Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Lisbon, Paris, London, and Tallinn). In doing so, PLUS supported its sociological investigations with theoretical and historical elaborations concerning the operation of contemporary platforms and the characteristics of the new form of unionism. We will present some results from PLUS, with a focus on the Bologna case, where platform workers express their dissatisfaction with their organizations, attempting to relate their strategies to certain structural aspects of business territorialization within urban spaces. We will draw upon the well-known distinction proposed by Albert Hirschman between exit, voice, and loyalty and adapt it to frame the various strategies that platform workers may adopt.