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Alex Marshall, new President of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and former delivery courier, speaks to the Gig Economy Project. This podcast includes discussion of: - 1:56:...
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Alex Marshall, new President of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and former delivery courier, speaks to the Gig Economy Project. This podcast includes discussion of:
- 1:56: Alex's eventful 2020
- 8:54: A new generation of trade union leadership
- 12:21: IWGB: Organising the 'unorganisable'
- 16:00: The evolution of the gig economy
- 21:30: The IWGB's health & safety court victory
- 24:44: Algorithmic control in the gig economy
- 27:21: Stuart Delivery workers' strike in Plymouth
- 29:40: Digital platforms' over-supply of labour
- 35:10: The importance of internationalism
show less
- 1:56: Alex's eventful 2020
- 8:54: A new generation of trade union leadership
- 12:21: IWGB: Organising the 'unorganisable'
- 16:00: The evolution of the gig economy
- 21:30: The IWGB's health & safety court victory
- 24:44: Algorithmic control in the gig economy
- 27:21: Stuart Delivery workers' strike in Plymouth
- 29:40: Digital platforms' over-supply of labour
- 35:10: The importance of internationalism
31 OCT 2021 · Trade union leaders always have to express confidence and optimism that the workers can win, but listening to Ludovic Voet speak about the platform economy, it sounds genuine.
Voet became confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which represents 45 million trade unionists from 39 European countries, in 2019 at the age of just 33, previously having been a national youth leader of the Belgian CSC union.
He addressed two conferences on the gig economy in Brussels from 27-29 October which the Gig Economy Project was also in attendance at (see our reports here and here). Both times Voet expressed his belief that the legal battle for labour rights for gig workers had been won in Europe, and that the trade union movement was now making the weather when it comes to the European Commission’s much anticipated platform work directive in December, which - he said - has put digital labour platforms like Uber and Glovo on the back-foot.
Confidence is all well and good but at some point it has to be put to the test. Can the trade union movement really win in Brussels, where platform capitalism significantly outguns the trade unions in their ability to fund expensive lobbying efforts? And even if the ETUC’s demands for the platform work directive are met by the EU Commission, do the 92 ETUC-affiliated unions have it in them to do the hard yards of organising precarious, low-paid platform workers in Europe that would be necessary to transform their working conditions?
The Gig Economy Project met Voet in his ETUC office in Brussels to discuss all this and more:
01:11: Will the EU Commission’s platform work directive be a step forwards or backwards?
05:26: Spain’s Rider’s Law as a case study
09:21: Trade union demands for digital workers’ rights
12:24: Trade union organising and the platform economy
19:06: “Striketober” and the potential for trade union renewal
25 OCT 2021 · The European Commission’s directive on platform work is less than six weeks away. One way or another, it is likely to be a game-changer in Europe’s gig economy. If it introduces changes which force platform companies across the continent to hire workers as employees like any other, with full labour rights, it could be a fatal blow to the attempts by Uber, Glovo and the rest to continue to hire workers without taking any responsibility for their welfare.
On the otherhand, if the EU Commission were to introduce a law which was useful to the platforms’ in rejecting the various Supreme Court verdicts which have went against them on employment status, and cemented a “third-category” between employee and self-employed across the continent, it could be a major, permanent set-back for the progress the labour movement has made over the past year, in countries like Spain and Portugal where legislation for employment status of at least some platform workers has been introduced or will be introduced.
All this and more is occupying the minds of platform workers and activists travelling to Brussels from across Europe and beyond this week for the Alternatives to Uberisation Forum, on 27 October. One of those attending the forum is Anne Dufresne, a sociologist and researcher of atypical and international social mobilisation at the research group for alternative economic strategy in Brussels. Dufrense was the organiser of the first European assembly of couriers in 2018, and is involved in Allianza Unidos World Action, an international network for gig workers. She is also co-author of the ‘The struggle for rights in the gig economy’, with Cédric Leterme, published by the Left in the European Parliament in January 2021.
Before the forum, Ben Wray, Gig Economy Project co-ordinator, caught up with Dufresne in Brussels to talk about the EU Commission’s directive, her book and much more.
12 OCT 2021 · Alberto "Tito" Álvarez no es un dirigente del taxi cualquiera. Con su chaleco amarillo de "f*** Uber", encarna el espíritu de un sindicato de taxistas de Barcelona que está decidido a mantener a las plataformas de alquiler de vehículos fuera de la capital catalana de forma permanente, y que está dispuesto a utilizar todas las tácticas disponibles para lograrlo.
Desde 2014, Élite Taxi Barcelona ha demostrado ser increíblemente eficaz en la consecución de ese objetivo. Mientras que en Londres se cree que hay 45.000 coches Uber en las calles y 3,5 millones de usuarios, en Barcelona no se puede ver un coche Uber en la calle, y uno no dependería de la aplicación Uber para poder hacer una reserva en absoluto. Uber se fue de Barcelona en 2019, alegando presiones regulatorias, e hizo un regreso chapucero en marzo de este año, con los reguladores bajo intensa presión de Élite Taxi para reprimir a la empresa californiana por incumplir las normas de la ciudad debido a su negativa a ofrecer una tarifa de precio cerrado.
El 'Gig Economy project’ estuvo en Barcelona el 28 de septiembre para la última movilización de Élite Taxi por la ciudad, esta vez apuntando su fuego no sólo a Uber y Cabify, sino también a Free Now, la aplicación de alquiler privado de propiedad alemana utilizada por muchos "taxistas" de Barcelona, y a la que Álvarez acusa de estar aliada con Uber para liberalizar el sector del taxi en Cataluña.
El jueves [14 de octubre], Élite Taxi llevará su mensaje directamente a Bruselas, donde se reunirá con miembros del Parlamento Europeo y de la Comisión de la UE para presentar un informe que, según Álvarez, demuestra que las plataformas de taxi funcionan como un cártel de precios.
Al día siguiente de la manifestación, GEP habló con Álvarez sobre el pasado, el presente y el futuro de Élite Taxi Barcelona. En este podcast hablamos:
00:56: La organización, estrategia y táctica de Élite Taxi
14:08: La lucha actual contra Uber, Cabify y Free Now
18:04: ¿Por qué la situación del taxi es tan diferente entre Madrid y Barcelona?
20:59: ¿Podría utilizarse la tecnología de la información de las plataformas de ride hail para el bien social?
24:08: La visión de Uber de estar en el centro de la transición europea hacia el carbono cero en el transporte
28:57: Los planes de Élite Taxi Barcelona en Bruselas el 14 de octubre
17 AUG 2021 · It’s 18 months since the World Health Organisation officially declared that the spread of covid-19 around the world constituted a pandemic. One year and a half on, everything has been changed in one way or another by the global crisis that has ensued, not least the gig economy and the world of work and digital technology more broadly.
But what precisely can we say about how the pandemic has changed the gig economy on a global scale?
One of the most systematic global assessments of the gig economy was published last month by the International Labour Review. ‘Stripping back the mask: Working conditions on digital labour platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic’ is authored by researchers connected to the University of Oxford’s Fair Work Foundation, and is based on reviews of the policies of over 191 platforms in 43 countries.
Kelle Howson, postdoctoral researcher on the Fairwork project at the University of Oxford, is one of the author’s of ‘Stripping back the mask’. Howson works on improving labour standards for platform workers in South Africa, and has previously worked as a senior researcher in New Zealand’s Labour Government.
The Gig Economy Project spoke to Howson about the first 18 months of the pandemic and its impact on the gig economy worldwide, using the ‘Stripping back the mask’ paper as the starting point for discussion. This podcast includes discussion of:
01:22: What has the pandemic revealed about the nature of gig work?
9:04: How has the pandemic affected the dynamics of the platform economy?
17:04: Worker resistance, legal and legislative changes in the platform economy during the pandemic
32:53: How do we draw attention to less visible gig workers?
37:77: Overall assessment of 18 months of the pandemic and platform work
20 JUL 2021 · The Gig Economy Project spoke to Zeynep Karlıdağ, rider at food delivery company Gorillas and member of the Gorillas’ Workers Collective, about their wave of wildcat strikes and warehouse blockades in Berlin.
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Dotted in neighbourhoods across Berlin are small ‘Gorillas’ warehouses. Out of these warehouses comes riders bearing groceries, to deliver to homes “faster than you” can buy it yourself from the shop, the company’s slogan promises.
Gorillas has been described as the fastest European start-up company ever to reach ‘Unicorn’ status; the ultra-fast app delivery company launched in spring 2020 and was valued at over €1 billion just nine months later. Gorillas has continued to rapidly expand, operating in cities across Germany as well as France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK.
But take a closer look at its Berlin warehouses (otherwise known as ‘dark stores’) over the past couple of months and you will see something interesting. The ‘Gorillas’ are revolting. In an unprecedented wave of wildcat strikes across June and July, the company’s riders have been blockading the entrances of warehouses and shutting down its operations.
The riders, who are employees of the company, have been organising as the Gorillas Workers Collective, and have turned the company’s slogan on its head: while CEO Kağan Sümer promises “delivering in under 10 minutes”, the GWC are “organising in under 10 minutes” - the GWC respond to the sacking of a colleague or unsafe working conditions with immediate direct action. And they have got Sümer’s attention - videos circulating on social media show the workers directly confronting a nervous-looking CEO, who has refused to agree to a long list of demands but has responded with somewhat desperate and bizarre appeals for unity.
To find out more, Gig Economy Project co-ordinator Ben Wray spoke to GWC’s Zeynep Karlıdağ. In this podcast, they discuss:
0.20: How did the Gorillas Workers Collective get started?
5:14: The wave of wildcat strikes in June and July
13:40: Gorillas’ delivery model and rider accidents
18:43: What would decent working conditions look like for riders?
24:36: Gorillas Workers Collective’s informal mode of organising
28:38: An international movement of riders
1 JUN 2021 · For as long as there has been a labour movement - where workers organise together to challenge their boss - there has also been an anti-labour movement. Bosses organise to weaken and ultimately destroy the power of labour, using an enormous range of tactics to do so. One of the most important tactics is the ability to co-opt sections of the workforce, convincing them that the bosses’ agenda is in their best interest and must be fought for, dividing the workers in two.
That tactic has arrived in the gig economy in Spain, and in a big way. In the battle over rights for food delivery workers (‘riders’), platforms have fostered an important ally among a section of the workforce, who have organised into numerous pro-platform associations. These associations are vociferously opposed to the Spanish Government’s Riders Law, passed last month, which starts from the presumption that all riders for digital labour platforms are employees not self-employed. The Law also gives trade unions access to the platforms’ algorithms.
In opposition to the Riders Law, this movement of pro-platform riders has organised demonstrations in cities across Spain. The ugliest elements of the movement have specifically targeted individual trade union riders and members of the RidersXDerechos movement, including through violent attacks.
Last month, the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) published a report, ’Analysis of the political and social pressure of the distribution platforms’, which was co-authored by riders in the UGT. The report finds that this pro-platform movement has been brought to life by the platform companies themselves to defend their interests, that it is a type of astroturf movement to undermine pro-worker legislation and attack the pro-trade union movement of riders that has developed in recent years in Spain.
To discuss the report, The Gig Economy Project spoke to José Domingo Roselló, an economist at the UGT who was involved in research development on the report. The podcast includes discussion of:
2:09: How did the pro-platform movement of riders emerge and what are its main characteristics?
8:45: Why has this astroturf movement of riders become so important to the food delivery platforms strategy in Spain?
21:22: Why do some riders in Spain support the pro-platform movement?
28:12: The violence against the pro-trade union, pro-workers’ right movement of riders
34:33: Will the Riders Law improve the situation of riders in Spain?
6 MAY 2021 · A burgeoning literature is seeking to understand 21st century capitalism from the perspective of work, the working class and class struggle. This ‘workerism’ tradition, historically associated with Italian marxism in the 1960s, starts from the workplace to understand where workers have power and how they can maximise it.
Robert Ovetz is one of those contributing to renewing this tradition of labour research and activism. Ovetz is a lecturer at San Jose State University in California, USA, and is author of ‘When Workers Shot Back: Class conflict from 1877 to 1921’ (2018). He is also editor of the book ‘Workers' Inquiry and Global Class Struggle: Strategies, Tactics and Objectives’, published by Pluto at the end of 2020. Ovetz is also assistant editor for an upcoming handbook on the gig economy to be published by Routledge, and is writing a chapter on Proposition 22 in California.
The Gig Economy Project spoke to Ovetz about the book ‘Workers’ inquiry and global class struggle’ and much more in this podcast, which is segmented as follows:
1:49: What is a “workers’ inquiry?”
5:52: The global class struggle today
20:29: Prop-22 and the development of class struggle in the gig economy
28:51: Home-working and the gigification of academic labour
33:53: What demands should workers be making about algorithmic power?
39:54: Class struggle and the pandemic
4 FEB 2021 · Leïla Chaibi is a member of the European Parliament for France Insoumise. Chaibi is an active campaigner for gig workers' rights and sits on the EP's 'committee on employment and social affairs’. In November, she published a draft proposal for a Directive on the regulation of platform workers across Europe on behalf of The Left Group.
The podcast is segmented as follows:
2:00: Chaibi’s background and what motivates her campaigning for gig workers’ rights
6:15: Macron and the gig economy in France
13:23: The Frouin report and the “third-party security” proposal
20:45: Chaibi’s proposal for gig workers’ rights in Europe
26:39: Expectations of the EU Commission’s Directive on regulating platform workers
To find out more about the Gig Economy Project visit https://braveneweurope.com/the-gig-economy-project, or the twitter @Project_Gig. If you would like to get involved in the Gig Economy Project, contact ben.wray@hotmail.co.uk
18 JAN 2021 · The Gig Economy Project speaks to Alex Marshall, new President of the Industrial Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and former delivery courier. They discuss:
- 1:56: Alex's eventful 2020
- 8:54: A new generation of trade union leadership
- 12:21: The IWGB: Organising the 'unorganisable'
- 16:00: The evolution of the gig economy
- 21:30: The IWGB's health and safety in the gig economy court victory
- 24:44: Algorithmic control in the gig economy
- 27:21: Stuart delivery workers strike in Plymouth
- 29:40: Platform companies' over-supply of labour
- 35:10: The importance of internationalism
Alex Marshall, new President of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and former delivery courier, speaks to the Gig Economy Project. This podcast includes discussion of: - 1:56:...
show more
Alex Marshall, new President of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and former delivery courier, speaks to the Gig Economy Project. This podcast includes discussion of:
- 1:56: Alex's eventful 2020
- 8:54: A new generation of trade union leadership
- 12:21: IWGB: Organising the 'unorganisable'
- 16:00: The evolution of the gig economy
- 21:30: The IWGB's health & safety court victory
- 24:44: Algorithmic control in the gig economy
- 27:21: Stuart Delivery workers' strike in Plymouth
- 29:40: Digital platforms' over-supply of labour
- 35:10: The importance of internationalism
show less
- 1:56: Alex's eventful 2020
- 8:54: A new generation of trade union leadership
- 12:21: IWGB: Organising the 'unorganisable'
- 16:00: The evolution of the gig economy
- 21:30: The IWGB's health & safety court victory
- 24:44: Algorithmic control in the gig economy
- 27:21: Stuart Delivery workers' strike in Plymouth
- 29:40: Digital platforms' over-supply of labour
- 35:10: The importance of internationalism
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| Author | The Gig Economy Project |
| Organization | The Gig Economy Project |
| Categories | Society & Culture |
| Website | - |
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