Book chapter
English

When voices from below are heard: the case of a Swiss online food-delivery platform

Published inAdrian Wilkinson, Tony Dundon, Paula Mowbray, and Sarah Brooks (Ed.), Missing voice? Worker Voice and Social Dialogue in the Platform Economy, p. 195-215
PublisherCheltenham : Edward Elgar
Collection
  • The Future of Work and Employment series
Publication date2022-10-11
Abstract

The paper discusses a case study of a gig workers' mobilization inside a Swiss online food-delivery platform where bike couriers were successful in making their voices heard. While communication at the micro level was impeded by digital platforms, platform workers were able to put pressure on their supervisors, find support from a trade-union and organize themselves in order to engage successful negotiations at the meso level. However, if the negotiation could take place successfully, this also relied on some deep ongoing changes and debates within society about the need for regulating the platform economy. Thus, the macro level also provided essential resources for the mobilization. The main outcome of the mobilization was that gig workers were able to engage social dialogue and improve their working conditions. This suggests that, in the end, workers' voice can take place in the platform economy, overcoming the numerous forms of spatial, social, organizational, etc. fragmentation prevailing in the sector and the difficulties created by algorithmic management. Our case study illustrates the need to understand and analyze together the micro, meso and macro levels when analyzing workers' voices in the platform economy.

Keywords
  • Bike-delivery
  • Algorithmic management
  • Gig workers
  • Platform economy
  • Trade-union
  • Workers' voice
Citation (ISO format)
CIANFERONI, Nicola, PERRIG, Luca, BONVIN, Jean-Michel. When voices from below are heard: the case of a Swiss online food-delivery platform. In: Missing voice? Worker Voice and Social Dialogue in the Platform Economy. Adrian Wilkinson, Tony Dundon, Paula Mowbray, and Sarah Brooks (Ed.). Cheltenham : Edward Elgar, 2022. p. 195–215. (The Future of Work and Employment series) doi: 10.4337/9781839105548.00020
Main files (1)
Book chapter (Published version)
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
ISBN9781839105548
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Creation22/02/2023 15:55:54
First validation30/03/2023 13:38:44
Update time30/03/2023 13:38:44
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