Building coalitions on Facebook: ‘social media unionism’ among Danish bike couriers

Abstract

Platform work represents an important challenge for the ‘Danish model’ of unionisation. Using interviews and ethnographic data, this article analyses the strategies of the Danish grassroots union movement the Wolt Workers' Group, representing principally migrant couriers using the food‐delivery platform Wolt. This study is an attempt to map an emergent form of flexible labour organisation based on horizontal, informal online networks while supported in different ways by established unions. We term this strategy of balanced autonomy and support ‘social media unionism'. Wolt couriers' attempts at grassroots organisation via social media is an important and understudied issue, especially their complex relationship to union actors. The ‘social media unionism' explored in this article allows for the formation and maintenance of nimble grassroots mobilisation among workers that are otherwise hard for unions to reach, such as migrants platform workers. We argue that this strategy holds both great possibilities and challenges for the labour movement.

Solidarity with or against: Exploring group identification among precarious migrant workers

“…Our study focuses on three sectors: agriculture, construction, and transport (specifically platform delivery services), each highlighting challenges in non-standard work. Non-standard work is increasing in Denmark, with migrant workers notably over-represented (Ilsøe and Larsen, 2020), and leading Danish unions are actively working to organise migrant workers and foster grassroots initiatives (Arnholtz and Refslund, 2019;Hau and Savage, 2023). This context highlights the need for studies like the present in understanding solidarity dynamics among migrant workers in non-standard jobs.…”

Tech worker activism against gender discrimination in China

“…Scholars who investigate labour organisation through digital networks sometimes refer to this phenomenon as 'social media unionism', arguing that social media can improve unions' engagement with audiences (e.g. Hau & Savage 2022) and enable new forms of connection between unions and other social groups, with the possibility of leading to union revitalisation. This article extends the discussion of organisation and mobilisation to an ad hoc campaign, suggesting that workers should be flexible and creative in battling for a better workplace.…”

Tragic performances? How unions stage their online identity

“…Interestingly, while Houghton and Hodder (2021b) stick to the neutrality thesis, they also introduce a slight nuance which suggests that this online reflection of union identity only represents ‘a crude’ and ‘partial’ version – but they do not specify the transformations induced by social media. Another variation of this neutrality thesis assumes that digital technology does not fundamentally alter unions’ identities but helps to ‘strengthen’ identification with the union (Geelan, 2022; Hau and Savage, 2022; Wood, 2015).…”