Normalizing and Resisting the New Precarity: A Case Study of the Indonesian Gig Economy

Abstract

The article examines the effects of the normalization of a new form of precarious work—tied to the gig economy and shaped by the imperatives of neoliberalism—in impeding the formation of solidarity that would enable workers to challenge structural issues that shape their precarity, although without entirely preventing collective organization. While the article focuses on the manifestation of the new precarity and workers’ responses in the app-based transport service in Indonesia, it seeks insights from the different experiences of other countries. It is argued here that the historical absence of the Standard Employment Relationship (SER), and the historically rooted ineffectiveness of labor and broader society movements aggravate problems in translating the precarity discourse into the organizational struggles of contemporary labor.

Gig Workers, Social Protection and Labour Market Inequality: Lessons from Malaysia

“…This is why the gig labour market has succeeded in attracting a certain segment of the developing countries of Asia, especially ASEAN countries. Gig work is prevalent in Asian countries as a receptacle for the abundant labour force that the formal sector is unable to absorb (Yasih 2022). In addition, the entry of unemployed and new workers into the sector affected by COVID-19 has led to an exponential rise in the gig work required in the market (Mukhopadhyay & Chatwin, 2020).…”

“We touch their heart”: Plastic Automaticity and Affective Labour at Jakarta Soekarno‐Hatta Airport

“…2021). Among other problems, labour unions are weak in the country; agricultural transformations are causing people to move to big cities for jobs; and urban work is increasingly outsourced to a gig economy that has decimated formal employment among the educated (Kebschull 2020; Yasih 2023). Of course, airport workers tend to fare better than other, low skilled vocations, but curhat remains in need of contextualisation within these unequal relations and anxieties.…”

Book Reviews: The Routledge Handbook of the Gig Economy edited by Immanuel Ness

“…On the other hand, students of the gig economy are increasingly focussing on worker resistance and collective action. Some critically evaluate the opportunity structures for self-organised or union-led action (Della Porta et al, 2023; Yasih, 2023), whereas others debate the merits of alternatives to private platform companies, like platform cooperatives (Christiaens, 2023; Sandoval, 2019; Scholz, 2017).…”