Labour Activism and Social Movement Unionism in the Gig Economy. Food Delivery Workers Struggles in Italy
<span class="abs_content">This article aims to explore the forms of collective actions that are emerging in new sectors of digital capitalism. In particular, it enquires into the mobilisation of food delivery workers that has been developing since 2016 in four Italian cities: Milan,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Coordinamento SIBA
2019-11-01
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| Series: | Partecipazione e Conflitto |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/article/view/21279 |
| _version_ | 1797680536110497792 |
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| author | Riccardo Emilio Chesta Lorenzo Zamponi Carlotta Caciagli |
| author_facet | Riccardo Emilio Chesta Lorenzo Zamponi Carlotta Caciagli |
| author_sort | Riccardo Emilio Chesta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <span class="abs_content">This article aims to explore the forms of collective actions that are emerging in new sectors of digital capitalism. In particular, it enquires into the mobilisation of food delivery workers that has been developing since 2016 in four Italian cities: Milan, Turin, Bologna and Florence. Despite the high level of precarisation and atomisation that characterise this subset of gig economy jobs, the so-called riders were able to organise into self-organised workers' collectives, which not only gave rise to many protest events, but also drew the attention of the institutions and the media. What are the conditions and the strategies that made this possible? And, more broadly, what does this case tell us about the possibility of labour activism in gig economy work? We argue that the high level of activation of food delivery workers is to be related to their capability to provide resources for reconstructing social ties among workers and, in turn, for translating them into political engagement and contentious action. This is realised through the combination of three factors that will be scrutinised in the paper. The analysis points out that although precarisation creates significant obstacles to organisation and mobilisation, collective action does actually take place also in the gig economy, in certain conditions.</span><br /> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:31:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0828848d91b34806a37d5dd1eb219252 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1972-7623 2035-6609 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:31:24Z |
| publishDate | 2019-11-01 |
| publisher | Coordinamento SIBA |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Partecipazione e Conflitto |
| spelling | doaj.art-0828848d91b34806a37d5dd1eb2192522023-09-20T07:59:56ZengCoordinamento SIBAPartecipazione e Conflitto1972-76232035-66092019-11-0112381984410.1285/i20356609v12i3p81919154Labour Activism and Social Movement Unionism in the Gig Economy. Food Delivery Workers Struggles in ItalyRiccardo Emilio Chesta0Lorenzo Zamponi1Carlotta Caciagli2Scuola Normale SuperioreScuola Normale SuperioreLUISS Guido Carli<span class="abs_content">This article aims to explore the forms of collective actions that are emerging in new sectors of digital capitalism. In particular, it enquires into the mobilisation of food delivery workers that has been developing since 2016 in four Italian cities: Milan, Turin, Bologna and Florence. Despite the high level of precarisation and atomisation that characterise this subset of gig economy jobs, the so-called riders were able to organise into self-organised workers' collectives, which not only gave rise to many protest events, but also drew the attention of the institutions and the media. What are the conditions and the strategies that made this possible? And, more broadly, what does this case tell us about the possibility of labour activism in gig economy work? We argue that the high level of activation of food delivery workers is to be related to their capability to provide resources for reconstructing social ties among workers and, in turn, for translating them into political engagement and contentious action. This is realised through the combination of three factors that will be scrutinised in the paper. The analysis points out that although precarisation creates significant obstacles to organisation and mobilisation, collective action does actually take place also in the gig economy, in certain conditions.</span><br />http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/article/view/21279food delivery workersgig economylabour activismplatform capitalismsocial movement unionism |
| spellingShingle | Riccardo Emilio Chesta Lorenzo Zamponi Carlotta Caciagli Labour Activism and Social Movement Unionism in the Gig Economy. Food Delivery Workers Struggles in Italy Partecipazione e Conflitto food delivery workers gig economy labour activism platform capitalism social movement unionism |
| title | Labour Activism and Social Movement Unionism in the Gig Economy. Food Delivery Workers Struggles in Italy |
| title_full | Labour Activism and Social Movement Unionism in the Gig Economy. Food Delivery Workers Struggles in Italy |
| title_fullStr | Labour Activism and Social Movement Unionism in the Gig Economy. Food Delivery Workers Struggles in Italy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Labour Activism and Social Movement Unionism in the Gig Economy. Food Delivery Workers Struggles in Italy |
| title_short | Labour Activism and Social Movement Unionism in the Gig Economy. Food Delivery Workers Struggles in Italy |
| title_sort | labour activism and social movement unionism in the gig economy food delivery workers struggles in italy |
| topic | food delivery workers gig economy labour activism platform capitalism social movement unionism |
| url | http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/article/view/21279 |
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