Rapid advances in technology brought dramatic changes into the labour market, regarding precarious, flexible and informal work. The gig economy has enabled new forms of labour exploitation, social exclusion, intermittent and vulnerable professional trajectories. Not having fully recovered from the Great Recession, the Portuguese society is crossing a Covid-19 global pandemic which has accelerated the digitalisation and platformisation of work fecting not only the value chains, but the labour market dynamics in a heterogenous way. Between 2019 and 2020, 53 in-depth interviews were conducted with precarious workers in Portugal, comprising a focus on 15 life trajectories from digital platform workers. Through their voices, it was concluded that job insecurity is deeply intertwined with the global supply chain management operated by algorithmic control. Most of platform companies threaten established employment relationships, atomising workers who live in the present time without any future aspirations.
In the 21st century the introduction of digital technologies has been accompanied by a rise in precarious, cheap and vulnerable work. Call centres represent a part of the service sector that exemplifies many aspects of technological innovation, being one of the fastest developing forms of digitalised work. This article draws on 30 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2014 and 2017 with former and present Portuguese and British call centre workers, trade union delegates, activists and academics, aiming at analysing the engagement between trade unions and social mobilisation, that is, how workers engage in new forms of organisation in Portuguese and British call centres.
The use of digital platforms for managing work grew considerably in Portugal, especially in the aftermath of the Great Recession. This new form of digital and platform work intensified the use of an on-demand workforce, not involved in the bargaining process, subject to indecent working conditions, social control and surveillance and the possibility of accessing social benefits, creating new obstacles for organising. Between 2019 and 2021, semi-structured interviews with workers, activists involved in associations and social movements, trade unionists and key informers were conducted. Also desk research involved five case-studies in Portugal, as part of a European research project. Results allowed to establish a typification of digital platform workers and to analyse collective action and voice in the country.
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