The Gig Economy Project

A Rebel’s Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In Episode 11, Ben and Marini look at how gig workers really could be their own bosses, by taking col...

A Rebel’s Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In Episode 10, Ben and Marini look at the power gig workers have if they join together in a union. Th...

A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In Episode 9, Ben and Marini explain the apparent paradox of the big digital platforms being powe...

A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In Episode 8, Ben and Marini explain why big digital labour platforms like Uber have been able to...

A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In Episode 7, Ben and Marini question the notion that the gig economy is a labour market boon for...

A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In Episode 6, Ben and Marini challenge the idea that the gig economy offers freedom for women fro...

A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In Episode 5, Ben and Marini challenge the widely espoused notion that working in the gig economy...

A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In Episode 4, Ben and Marini take down the myth that food delivery couriers and drivers working o...

A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In Episode 3, Ben and Marini uncover the secrets of 'the algorithm'; the method by which...

A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In this second episode, Ben and Marini look at the payment model in the gig economy, where worker...

A Rebel's Guide to the Gig Economy is a series of podcasts by journalist Ben Wray and researcher Marini Thorne which gets behind the tech jargon and the CEO propaganda to examine the reality of work in the gig economy and look at how gig workers can challenge the power of their algorithmic bosses. In this first episode, Ben and Marini explain the thinking behind the series and answer the quest...

"If you can go to the moon, why are you still going to the supermarket?” That was the pitch of Kağan Sümer, former CEO and co-founder of the Gorillas grocery delivery platform, founded in Berlin in 2020.  Sümer promised Gorillas could deliver groceries to your home in 10 minutes. “Faster than you” was the company’s first slogan.  Gorillas took off during the pandemic, attracting billions in v...

After years of wrangling within and between the EU institutions, the Platform Work Directive was finally agreed on 11 March. The directive aims to improve working conditions for platform workers, those who are algorithmically managed and work on-demand, whether that is an Uber driver, a care[dot]com cleaner or an Upwork graphic designer. But it is not without controversy. 25 out of 27 EU member-st...

On 21-22 February, platform workers’ gathered in Brussels for the transnational Alternatives to Uberisation forum. The forum came just a few days after the Platform Work Directive was blocked by four member-states, Germany, France, Greece and Estonia.  The Platform Work Directive, which would be the first major European legislation on platform work, still could potentially be passed before the end...

As we approach the end of 2023, things are happening when it comes to the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the European Union.  After intense negotiations, provisional agreements have been found between the EU institutions on the much-debated AI Act and the lower profile but nonetheless crucially important Platform Work Directive , part of which is about how to regulate the use of alg...

The gig economy is often talked about as ‘the future of work’, but if we look at history we find that its wage model - paying per output, rather than per hour - actually goes back hundreds of years. In the 19th century, this was called ‘piece wages’, paying literally for each piece of material produced. Philosopher and economist Karl Marx wrote a critique of piece wages in one of the most influent...

When food delivery platforms land in a country, they arrive into pre-existing labour market and industrial relations norms. In some countries, those norms can be relatively conducive to the business model which these platforms want to impose, while in others it can make things more complicated for the platforms. Austria is a case of the latter. In Austria collective bargaining remains at the heart...

How does the urban space and urban politics shape the relationship between food delivery platforms and their riders? In an article published in Social Europe at the end of June, Maurilio Pirone explores this question through the experience of the Riders Union in Bologna, which he was a founding member of. The Riders Union was an inspiring example of workers’ self-organisation. Beginning with strik...

Sub-contracting in the platform economy is an increasingly pertinent issue in numerous countries across Europe, but no more so than in Croatia. In the south-east European nation, 80% of platform workers operate through sub-contractors, which are known locally as ‘aggregators’.  The aggregator system has been widely condemned by unions and workers in Croatia due to the shady, and sometimes illegal,...

The online, desk-based gig economy, sometimes known as cloudwork or crowdwork, has been growing rapidly in recent years. Everything from transcriptions to legal services can be bought by clients on digital labour platforms like freelancer.com from gig workers anywhere in the world. Cloudwork has been touted as a gender-inclusive form of labour which eliminates gender biases and gives women the fre...

The Platform Work Directive has reached a crucial stage. The European Parliament’s Employment Committee has backed a text led by the parliament’s Rapporteur, Elisabetta Gualmini, which would strengthen the provisions for workers in the initial draft published by the European Commission in December 2021. A vote will take place in January of the whole Parliament on the Gualmini text. Meanwhile, the...

They call data the oil of the 21st century. Without it, the digital economy as we know it would grind to a halt. And just like oil, unrefined data is pretty useless - it’s what you do with the data that makes it valuable. What is done with data, and who has power over it, is what preoccupies Jessica Pidoux, director of the NGO PersonalData. IO and a lecturer in the sociology of data at SciencesPo...

Sweden goes to the polls on 11 September, in an election that comes in the midst of Europe’s twin economic and geopolitical crisis, with the war in Ukraine rumbling on and inflation surging across the continent. What could the election mean for Sweden’s gig economy? Sweden has been traditionally associated with strong trade unions and a collaborative relationship with management, in what is called...

The Uber Files revelations have let a thousand questions bloom about this Silicon Valley company that has broken all the rules, accumulated massive power over cities across the globe, but has never achieved a profit, and has so far failed in many of its stated ambitions to transform the transport sector for good. To begin to piece together some answers, the Gig Economy Project spoke to Paris Marx,...

What is it really like to be a rider in the city? Laura Carrer, freelance journalist on tech and its implications for digital and human rights, and Luca Quagliato, freelance video maker and photographer who previously worked as a rider, explore this theme in an upcoming documentary, which will include footage of riders explaining their reality across Europe and an animation depicting the experienc...