A Rebel’s Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In Episode 11, Ben and Marini look at how gig workers really could be their own bosses, by taking collective control of their data. They find that their a number of potential models, but what they all have in common is a democratisation of work.
Previous episodes:
Ep 1: What is the gig economy?
Ep 2: Why are gig workers paid-per-task?
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Ep 4: Are gig workers their ‘own boss’?
Ep 5: Is gig work really ‘flexible’?
Ep 6: Is the gig economy really a “godsend” for women?
Ep 7: Is the gig economy good for migrants & ethnic minorities?
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful?
Ep 9: Why do gig platforms struggle to turn a profit?
The Gig Economy Project is a BRAVE NEW EUROPE media network for gig workers in Europe. Click here to find out more and click here to get the weekly newsletter.
A Rebel’s Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In Episode 10, Ben and Marini look at the power gig workers have if they join together in a union. They find that despite many hurdles to victory, there are already inspiring examples of gig workers striking and winning.
Previous episodes:
Ep 1: What is the gig economy?
Ep 2: Why are gig workers paid-per-task?
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Ep 4: Are gig workers their ‘own boss’?
Ep 5: Is gig work really ‘flexible’?
Ep 6: Is the gig economy really a “godsend” for women?
Ep 7: Is the gig economy good for migrants & ethnic minorities?
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful?
Ep 9: Why do gig platforms struggle to turn a profit?
Future episodes:
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel’s Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com.
A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In Episode 9, Ben and Marini explain the apparent paradox of the big digital platforms being powerful globally but struggling to be profitable. They find that the core problem is that, despite being hailed as 'innovative', these platforms have not transformed the economic fundamentals of the industry sectors they operate within, which have traditionally been low-margin.
Previous episodes:
Ep 1: What is the gig economy?
Ep 2: Why are gig workers paid-per-task?
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Ep 4: Are gig workers their ‘own boss’?
Ep 5: Is gig work really ‘flexible’?
Ep 6: Is the gig economy really a “godsend” for women?
Ep 7: Is the gig economy good for migrants & ethnic minorities?
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful?
Future episodes:
Ep 10: Why should gig workers join a union?
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel’s Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com.
A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In Episode 8, Ben and Marini explain why big digital labour platforms like Uber have been able to accumulate so much power so quickly. They find that technology is only a small part of the answer.
Previous episodes:
Ep 1: What is the gig economy?
Ep 2: Why are gig workers paid-per-task?
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Ep 4: Are gig workers their ‘own boss’?
Ep 5: Is gig work really ‘flexible’?
Ep 6: Is the gig economy really a “godsend” for women?
Ep 7: Is the gig economy good for migrants & ethnic minorities?
Future episodes:
Ep 9: Why do platforms struggle to turn a profit?
Ep 10: Why should gig workers join a union?
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel’s Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com.
A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In Episode 7, Ben and Marini question the notion that the gig economy is a labour market boon for migrants and ethnic minorities. While the low barriers to entry mean many marginalised workers can access gig work easier than standard jobs, the low pay and precarity of the gig economy keeps these workers on the margins.
Previous episodes:
Ep 1: What is the gig economy?
Ep 2: Why are gig workers paid-per-task?
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Ep 4: Are gig workers their ‘own boss’?
Ep 5: Is gig work really ‘flexible’?
Ep 6: Is the gig economy really a "godsend" for women?
Future episodes:
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful?
Ep 9: Why do platforms struggle to turn a profit?
Ep 10: Why should gig workers join a union?
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel’s Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com.
A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In Episode 6, Ben and Marini challenge the idea that the gig economy offers freedom for women from macho office environments and rigid work schedules. They find that the gig economy re-produces many of the same problems for women as standard jobs, and in some cases even reinforces the sexist double-burden of waged labour and domestic unpaid labour.
Previous episodes:
Ep 1: What is the gig economy?
Ep 2: Why are gig workers paid-per-task?
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Ep 4: Are gig workers their ‘own boss’?
Ep 5: Is gig work really 'flexible'?
Future episodes:
Ep 7: is platform work good for ethnic minorities?
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful?
Ep 9: Why do platforms struggle to turn a profit?
Ep 10: Why should gig workers join a union?
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel’s Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com.
A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In Episode 5, Ben and Marini challenge the widely espoused notion that working in the gig economy offers workers 'flexibility'. They find that to have true flexibility in your life requires social protections and economic security, neither of which are on offer in the gig economy.
Previous episodes:
Ep 1: What is the gig economy?
Ep 2: Why are gig workers paid-per-task?
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Ep 4: Are gig workers their 'own boss'?
Future episodes:
Ep 6: is the gig economy really “a godsend” for women?
Ep 7: is platform work good for ethnic minorities?
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful?
Ep 9: Why do platforms struggle to turn a profit?
Ep 10: Why should gig workers join a union?
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episodes on Spotify, iTunes or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel’s Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com.
A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In Episode 4, Ben and Marini take down the myth that food delivery couriers and drivers working on a digital labour platform are their 'own boss'. They find that employment misclassification is a means for platforms to avoid their responsibilities to their workers.
Previous episodes:
Ep 1: What is the gig economy?
Ep 2: Why are gig workers paid-per-task?
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Future episodes:
Ep 5: is gig work really flexible?
Ep 6: is the gig economy really “a godsend” for women?
Ep 7: is platform work good for ethnic minorities?
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful?
Ep 9: Why do platforms struggle to turn a profit?
Ep 10: Why should gig workers join a union?
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episodes on Spotify, iTunes or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel’s Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com.
A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In Episode 3, Ben and Marini uncover the secrets of 'the algorithm'; the method by which management instructions are delivered via an app. They find that algorithms accentuate the power imbalance between bosses and workers, especially when the rules which govern them remain a 'black box' for workers.
If you want to catch-up with the first two episodes of the A Rebel's Guide series, click here.
Future episodes:
Ep 4: Are gig workers really their own boss?
Ep 5: is gig work really flexible?
Ep 6: is the gig economy really "a godsend" for women?
Ep 7: is platform work good for ethnic minorities?
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful?
Ep 9: Why do platforms struggle to turn a profit?
Ep 10: Why should gig workers join a union?
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episodes on Spotify, iTunes or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel's Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com.
A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In this second episode, Ben and Marini look at the payment model in the gig economy, where workers are not paid for their whole time at work but only the time it takes to complete a task. They find that pay-per-task, which used to be known as 'piece wages', is a lever for lengthening the working day and lowering wages.
If you want to catch-up with episode 1 in the Rebel's Guide series, 'What is the Gig Economy?', click here.
Future episodes:
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Part 2: Myth busting the gig economy
Ep 4: Are gig workers really their own boss?
Ep 5: is gig work really flexible?
Ep 6: is the gig economy really "a godsend" for women?
Ep 7: is platform work good for ethnic minorities?
Part 3: Power and the gig economy
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful
Ep 9: Why do platforms struggle to turn a profit?
Ep 10: Why should gig workers join a union?
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel's Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com.
A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses.
In this first episode, Ben and Marini explain the thinking behind the series and answer the question: what actually is the gig economy?
Future episodes:
Part 1: The labour process
Ep 2: Why are gig workers paid per task?
Ep 3: What is the algorithm?
Part 2: Myth busting the gig economy
Ep 4: Are gig workers really their own boss?
Ep 5: is gig work really flexible?
Ep 6: is the gig economy really "a godsend" for women?
Ep 7: is platform work good for ethnic minorities?
Part 3: Power and the gig economy
Ep 8: What makes platforms powerful
Ep 9: Why do platforms struggle to turn a profit?
Ep 10: Why should gig workers join a union?
Ep 11: How do gig workers get power over their data?
You can keep up-to-date with all future episode here on Spotify or at BraveNewEurope.com/The-Gig-Economy-Project.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @Project_gig.
If you have any feedback on the Rebel's Guide series, email GEP@BraveNewEurope.com
"If you can go to the moon, why are you still going to the supermarket?”
That was the pitch of Kağan Sümer, former CEO and co-founder of the Gorillas grocery delivery platform, founded in Berlin in 2020.
Sümer promised Gorillas could deliver groceries to your home in 10 minutes. “Faster than you” was the company’s first slogan.
Gorillas took off during the pandemic, attracting billions in venture capital investment. It became Europe’s fastest ever ‘Unicorn’ - a start-up with a valuation of over €1 billion - taking just nine months to reach that 10 figure sum.
But the success didn’t last. By the end of 2022 the company was on the verge of liquidation as its costs spiralled, demand slowed and venture capital looked elsewhere. It was sold to Getir, a Turkish grocery delivery platform which means ‘Bring’ in English.
Getir became the undisputed king of Q-Commerce in Europe, but it’s domination of the market was still not enough to save it. Getir’s empire began to crumble in 2023 as the same factors which brought down Gorillas were quickly undermining the whole industry.
In early May of this year, Getir - once valued at over €10 billion - decided to retreat from all of its foreign markets, now solely operating in Turkey. Getir’s decline signals the demise of the Q-Commerce specialist operator, a rise and fall that brought tens of thousands of workers into its orbit before just as quickly dispensing with almost all of them.
What explains this rapid journey from boom to bust? To discuss this, I’m joined by three guests who have intricate knowledge of the app-based grocery delivery sector.
Rachel Verdin is Research Fellow at the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre and author of ‘Back to the Dark Ages’, a report by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies on the grocery delivery sector.
Harry Parfitt is a former Flink grocery delivery courier in Freiburg, Germany. Flink shut down their operations in Freiburg when Harry and his colleagues were on the brink of setting-up a Works’ Council there. Written your Masters’ thesis about it at the University of Frieburg
Aju John hosted and produced the Delivery Charge podcast series, which looked at how platform workers are organising in India and Germany. A large part of the Delivery Charge series looked at grocery delivery organising in Berlin at Gorillas, Getir and Flink.
03:28: Why has Europe’s grocery delivery sector collapsed?
18:02: Worker organising and resistance in the grocery delivery sector
34:10: What future for Q-Commerce and what lessons can be learned from the sector’s rise and fall?
Visit braveneweurope.com/the-gig-economy-project to see all of our content and to sign-up for our weekly newsletter
After years of wrangling within and between the EU institutions, the Platform Work Directive was finally agreed on 11 March.
The directive aims to improve working conditions for platform workers, those who are algorithmically managed and work on-demand, whether that is an Uber driver, a care[dot]com cleaner or an Upwork graphic designer.
But it is not without controversy. 25 out of 27 EU member-states and the European Parliament only agreed to the Platform Work Directive after numerous compromises.
What does the final agreed EU platform work regulation contain? What difference will it make to the lives of platform workers? And how have controversial issues, like over platform workers’ employment status, been resolved?
To find out, the Gig Economy Project has gathered three of Europe’s leading experts on the topic.
Antonio Aloisi is Assistant professor of European and Comparative Labour Law at IE University Law School in Madrid. He is co-author with Valerio De Stefano of Your Boss is an Algorithm, and he has just published a piece in Social Europe with De Stefano analysing the Platform Work Directive.
Tim Christiaens is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Christians is the author of ‘Digital Working Lives’, and more recently, ‘De Kluseconomie’, ‘the Gig Economy’ in Dutch.
Jessica Pidoux is a sociologist and post-doctoral researcher at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. She is director of the NGO PersonalData.IO, and has worked with many platform workers in helping them recover and analyse their data.
In this podcast, we discuss:
02:24: The broader significance of the Platform Work Directive
10:32: The legal presumption of employment
31:50: Algorithmic management and platform workers’ rights
46:49: Where now for platform work research?
On 21-22 February, platform workers’ gathered in Brussels for the transnational Alternatives to Uberisation forum.
The forum came just a few days after the Platform Work Directive was blocked by four member-states, Germany, France, Greece and Estonia.
The Platform Work Directive, which would be the first major European legislation on platform work, still could potentially be passed before the end of the European Parliamentary term, at a final meeting on 11 March.
Delegates to the forum discussed the latest developments with the Directive, the working conditions gig workers’ are experiencing and looked to develop a strategy for the platform workers’ movement, regardless of the final outcome of the Directive.
A document titled The Brussels Appeal was circulated, with platform workers’ proposing amendments and suggestions to improve the text. A final text has now been published via the Gig Economy Project (GEP), with 26 platform work unions and collectives offering their support for it so far.
To discuss all of this and more, GEP co-ordinator Ben Wray spoke to three of the forum’s delegates, all of whom are at the heart of organising food delivery couriers’ in Europe today.
Robert Walasinski is project manager of the Rider Collective, which is part of the International Department of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB).
Felipe Corredor is a former food delivery courier in Barcelona and spokesperson for RidersXDerechos (Riders for Rights), an advocacy organisation for riders in Spain.
Camille Peeters is a food delivery courier, a member of Collectif Coursiers Bruxelles (Brussels Couriers Collective) and a union organiser.
In this podcast we discuss:
02:58: The working conditions’ of food delivery couriers’ in Europe
15:45: Rider union organising and resistance
26:10: The EU Platform Work Directive
38:34: The Brussels Appeal and the way forward for the platform workers’ movement
As we approach the end of 2023, things are happening when it comes to the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the European Union.
After intense negotiations, provisional agreements have been found between the EU institutions on the much-debated AI Act and the lower profile but nonetheless crucially important Platform Work Directive, part of which is about how to regulate the use of algorithmic systems in managing platform workers.
What are these agreements likely to mean for the future of the relationship between algorithms and workers in Europe?
To find out, the Gig Economy Project is joined by Aída Ponce Del Castillo, Senior Researcher at the European Trade Union Institute in Brussels, Belgium. Aída is a lawyer by training and her research focuses on the legal, ethical, social and regulatory issues surrounding emerging technologies, including AI.
GEP spoke to Ponce Del Castillo about:
01:40: Why should workers care about AI regulation at work?
3:14: The algorithmic management section of the Platform Work Directive
18:51: Is the AI Act “deregulatory regulation”?
27:00: EU legislation still to come on artificial intelligence at work
33:31: Are regulators catching up with changes in technology and work?
The gig economy is often talked about as ‘the future of work’, but if we look at history we find that its wage model - paying per output, rather than per hour - actually goes back hundreds of years.
In the 19th century, this was called ‘piece wages’, paying literally for each piece of material produced. Philosopher and economist Karl Marx wrote a critique of piece wages in one of the most influential economic texts of all time, Capital.
For Marx, piece wages are, like time-wages, a form of capitalist exploitation of the worker’s labour. The difference is that piece wages created a greater sense of individuality and competitiveness among workers, and therefore was a useful tool to motivate workers to work longer hours, more intensely and to lower their average wage.
Can Marx’s critique of piece wages give us insight into the gig economy today?
To discuss this and more, Gig Economy Project co-ordinator Ben Wray, who recently wrote about Marx and the gig economy in GEP's newsletter, is joined by Doctor Matthew Cole, who is a Lecturer in Technology, Work and Employment at the University of Sussex in the UK. Matt is an Associate Fellow of the Fairwork Project (which examines platform work) and the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre. He’s also a committed socialist and trade unionist.
They discuss:
01:45: Piece wages from Marx’s time to today
15:18: Piece wages and the illusion of independence
20:39: Piece wages and migrant workers
24:06: Wage theft and the gig economy
30:18: Is platformisation a new epoch of capitalism?
38:26: The UK Labour Party, the gig economy and employment status
When food delivery platforms land in a country, they arrive into pre-existing labour market and industrial relations norms. In some countries, those norms can be relatively conducive to the business model which these platforms want to impose, while in others it can make things more complicated for the platforms.
Austria is a case of the latter. In Austria collective bargaining remains at the heart of industrial relations, including in the private sector, with almost all workers covered by a collective agreement, even if they are not in a union. Works Councils exist which give workers some degree of insight and influence over corporate decision-making. While trade unions are not as strong as they once were, they are much more firmly rooted in the economy than in most European countries.
How has the food delivery sector fitted into this picture in Austria? What success have unions had in curbing the excesses of food delivery platforms? And what can unions and riders in other countries learn from union organising in Austrian food delivery?
To discuss all this and more, the Gig Economy Project spoke to Robert Walasinski, project manager of the Riders Collective, which is part of the International Department of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB).
We discuss:
01:50: Have food delivery platforms disrupted Austria’s social partnership model of industrial relations?
22:18: Union organising in Austria’s food delivery sector
31:15: Wolt’s entry into the Austrian market
34:50: The importance of gig worker organising internationally
How does the urban space and urban politics shape the relationship between food delivery platforms and their riders? In an article published in Social Europe at the end of June, Maurilio Pirone explores this question through the experience of the Riders Union in Bologna, which he was a founding member of.
The Riders Union was an inspiring example of workers’ self-organisation. Beginning with strikes and blockades in Bologna, the riders quickly realised they had to build alliances with riders in other cities and take their demands to politicians in Rome.
Pirone is now a junior researcher in the Inca project at the University of Bologna, and a member of the ‘Into the Black Box’ collective. In this podcast, the Gig Economy Project speaks to Pirone about:
01:36: The story of the Riders Union in Bologna
18:59: The urban dimension in food delivery struggles
36:08: The contemporary dynamics in the Italian platform economy and Italian politics
Sub-contracting in the platform economy is an increasingly pertinent issue in numerous countries across Europe, but no more so than in Croatia. In the south-east European nation, 80% of platform workers operate through sub-contractors, which are known locally as ‘aggregators’.
The aggregator system has been widely condemned by unions and workers in Croatia due to the shady, and sometimes illegal, practices of the managers, The fact that they also take around 10% of the workers’ wage, despite offering very few services to the worker, has led many workers to describe them as ‘the alligators’.
In December, the Croatian Government passed legislation which formalised the role of aggregators in Croatia’s platform economy. The law is due to come into force in January 2024. The Croatian Government has also advocated for the role of intermediary companies at EU level, in the context of the Platform Work Directive, which remains under debate among member-states at the Council of the EU.
To discuss all of this and more, the Gig Economy Project spoke to Sunčica Brnardić, Executive Secretary for Labour and Social Law at the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia (SSSH/UATUC). Brnardić has been lobbying the Croatian Government to amend the law so that the platforms are the direct employers, not the aggregators. In this podcast, we discuss:
1:41: The Croatian platform economy
06:28: What is the aggregator system in Croatia?
15:20: Croatia’s new platform work law
22:50: Sub-contracting and the EU Platform Work Directive
26:11: Wolt, sub-contracting and strikes in Zagreb
34:05: Key challenges for union organising in the gig economy
The online, desk-based gig economy, sometimes known as cloudwork or crowdwork, has been growing rapidly in recent years. Everything from transcriptions to legal services can be bought by clients on digital labour platforms like freelancer.com from gig workers anywhere in the world.
Cloudwork has been touted as a gender-inclusive form of labour which eliminates gender biases and gives women the freedom to live the working lives that suits them. Upwork promotes its platform as being “for a new generation of women” who can build “careers that lead to both financial and personal freedom”. Academic studies have talked up cloudwork’s potential to “help women sidestep traditional barriers”.
Al James, professor of Economic Geography at Newcastle University, has a more critical view of the gendered aspects of digital labour. For the last half-decade he has been interviewing female online gig workers in the UK to find out why they do online gig work and what their experience of it has been. He summarises many of his findings on his research project website, Gendered Digital Labour.
In this podcast, the Gig Economy Project speaks to James about his recently published paper, “Women in the gig economy: Feminising ‘digital labour’”.
We discuss:
01:00: What motivates James’ research?
03:47: What do female online gig workers have in common?
10:28: The discourse about female online gig work versus the reality
22:53: Female exploitation and abuse on online digital labour platforms
34:13: Platform care work
42:33: Lack of feminist perspectives in academic research on the platform economy
(Picture by Jennie Temple. See more of Jennie's art at the Gendered Digital Labour site (research funded by the British Academy).)
