Work and Labour Relations in Global Platform Capitalism

Hourly Wages in Crowdworking: A Meta-Analysis

“…For example, in the crowdworking category of microtasks, workers use plugins to become more efficient, or they search in forums to find better-paying jobs (Kingsley et al 2015 ; Silberman and Irani 2015 ). In online freelancing, workers often build a reputation, which also allows them to earn higher wages (Aleksynska et al 2019 ; Haidar and Keune 2021 ).…”

In Search of the Good Life: Weaknesses of the Ever-Stronger Global Platform Economy

“…While the vectorial class owns the vector along which information is gathered and used and does not need any more land/ factories, the hacker class -anyone who produces new information out of old information (and not just people who code for a living, but all the 23 In 2016, 61.2% of global employment was informal employment. However, in Western Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia such informality was below 20%, while it was 53.1% in Latin America, 68.2% in Asia and the Pacific and 85.8% in Africa (ILO, 2018 in Haidar andKeune, 2021). 24 Fleming (2017) describes the emerging economic order as a "theatre of cruelty in new forms of gig economy" and a "brutalist paradise of self-serving individualism" where "any sense of 'public good' has been squashed".…”

“…Working conditions -an extreme form of flexibility; contrary to the myth of workers' autonomy, there is no real freedom to determine one's working hours, to choose the location, content and other working conditions; there is constant monitoring of employees through tracking and a system of performance ratings 10 ; platforms directly and indirectly control the working hours of their workers their efficiency, productivity and the quality of work performed; the platforms have led to the development of a 24-hour economy in which workers put in additional hours of paid and unpaid work in their private time, thereby blurring the boundaries between private and professional life 11 , 12 ; only workers who have financial and social security outside the platforms or are members of a small 10 The digital platforms use automated systems to assign tasks, to monitor, evaluate and take decisions for the people working through what is known as "algorithmic management". 11 The blurring is conditioned not only by the self-exploitative practices of workers who tend to work when work is available and by the great amount of unpaid work mentioned earlier, but also by the practices of platforms that might offer bonuses for those who work during socially and family unfriendly hours (offline platforms) and encourage working that suits clients in the global North, which does not coincide with the normal working day of those living in the southern hemisphere (online platforms; Haidar and Keune, 2021). 12 Haidar and Keune ( 2021) note three tendencies in the organisation and control of the labour process on platforms, namely: using the productive capacity of labour solely in the service of capital, "algo-group of 'superstars' who manage to obtain continuous and better-paid work on the platforms (because they have the financial and other conditions to do so) have an opportunity to exercise freedom and independence; most platforms do not care about safety and health at work 13 ; transferring the concern for health and safety fully to workers brings serious consequences for the health and safety of workers, service users and the wider environment (e.g.…”

“…In contrast, widespread collective bargaining coverage and high minimum wages reduce inequalities between and within firms. Haidar and Keune (2021) highlight the global inequalities caused by online platforms that "are largely populated by workers from the global South but orchestrated by capital from the North, leading to exploitation, dependency, inequalities and discrimination". However, as exploitative as they are, online platforms are often regarded by workers from the South as providing them with more and better work opportunities than are present it their local labour markets.…”

“…In the absence of statutory regulating mechanisms, platform workers are increasingly trying to respond by themselves to the problems of platformorganised work. Haidar and Keune (2021) stress what determines the construction of these responses: the forms of control exercised by the platforms, the power resources of workers and unions, union traditions and strategies, and governmental interventions, specific geographical configurations of the labour market, culture and institutions. The authors identify four types of responses: 1) 'pro-status quo' where workers engage in limited actions in different forms of digital associativism (social networks and forums for sharing information and tips) with the sole aim of improving the conditions in which they operate in the labour market); 2) 'reformist', which are diverse in demands, organisational forms, a variety of repertoires of action (many are associated with digital technology but also strikes) and meanings with the chief objective of party reforming the functioning of and relationship with the platforms; 3) 'standardisation', in which workers organise to combat the asymmetry of power relative to the platforms, questioning the idea of autonomy and with the main demand of changing the status of workers from independent contractors to employees, and for bargaining over collective labour agreements; and 4) 'disruption', based on the vindication of autonomy along with the workers' ability to organise their labour process independently in an alternative model to the prevailing platform one (e.g.…”