Labour Movements, Gig Economy and Platform Capitalism

Far from being a new phenomenon, the gig economy has been reshaped by the current rise of platform capitalism. But while new technologies have introduced new challenges for labour, new forms of worker mobilisation have emerged, renewing the forms of collective action and unionism in the new phase of digital capitalism. The chapter looks at the specific challenges coming from the transformation of the work and social relations more broadly and distinguish between sectors of the digital economy characterised by new forms of organisations based on solidarity (microwork, crowdwork), and those sectors where new forms of conflicts and mobilisation are taking place (mobility, delivery). By linking critical labour studies and social movement theories, it analyses the ways in which digitalisation can be considered as a factor that not only disrupts traditional social relations at work through fragmentation and individualisation but also, conversely, opens up new opportunities to reshape worker social relations and forms of organisation. It will look at the interactions between digital transformation of platform work, interaction dynamics among the relevant actors of platform capitalism, and opportunities and constraints of worker mobilisation. In this sense, social movement theories can help addressing more general issues regarding this new wave of labour mobilisation, by looking at the opportunity structure, organisational resources, repertoires of action, and the claims of mobilisation. While platform capitalism tends to fragment labour and design new forms of worker control through new digital technologies, workers have under some conditions the power to respond to these challenges, creating new forms of labour mobilisations with repertoires and claims that in part renew the traditional forms of unionism.