Platform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: evidence from Berlin and London
For migrant workers who do not have access to other means of income, the platform economy offers a viable yet exploitative alternative to the conventional labour market. Migrant workers are used as a source of cheap labour by platforms – and yet, they are not disempowered. They are at the heart of a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2023
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| _version_ | 1826313447421247488 |
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| author | Alyanak, O Cant, C López Ayala, T Badger, A Graham, M |
| author_facet | Alyanak, O Cant, C López Ayala, T Badger, A Graham, M |
| author_sort | Alyanak, O |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | For migrant workers who do not have access to other means of income, the platform economy offers a viable yet exploitative alternative to the conventional labour market. Migrant workers are used as a source of cheap labour by platforms – and yet, they are not disempowered. They are at the heart of a growing platform worker movement. Across different international contexts, migrants have played a key role in leading strikes and other forms of collective action. This article traces the struggles of migrant platform workers in Berlin and London to explore how working conditions, work experiences, and strategies for collective action are shaped at the intersection of multiple precarities along lines of employment and migration status. Combining data collected through research by the Fairwork project with participant observation and ethnography, the article argues that migrant workers are more than an exploitable resource: they are harbingers of change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:18:09Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:13154d45-42af-48bb-8ccc-19ae671ab1a6 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:13:20Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:13154d45-42af-48bb-8ccc-19ae671ab1a62024-07-15T10:14:50ZPlatform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: evidence from Berlin and LondonJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:13154d45-42af-48bb-8ccc-19ae671ab1a6EnglishSymplectic ElementsCambridge University Press2023Alyanak, OCant, CLópez Ayala, TBadger, AGraham, MFor migrant workers who do not have access to other means of income, the platform economy offers a viable yet exploitative alternative to the conventional labour market. Migrant workers are used as a source of cheap labour by platforms – and yet, they are not disempowered. They are at the heart of a growing platform worker movement. Across different international contexts, migrants have played a key role in leading strikes and other forms of collective action. This article traces the struggles of migrant platform workers in Berlin and London to explore how working conditions, work experiences, and strategies for collective action are shaped at the intersection of multiple precarities along lines of employment and migration status. Combining data collected through research by the Fairwork project with participant observation and ethnography, the article argues that migrant workers are more than an exploitable resource: they are harbingers of change. |
| spellingShingle | Alyanak, O Cant, C López Ayala, T Badger, A Graham, M Platform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: evidence from Berlin and London |
| title | Platform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: evidence from Berlin and London |
| title_full | Platform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: evidence from Berlin and London |
| title_fullStr | Platform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: evidence from Berlin and London |
| title_full_unstemmed | Platform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: evidence from Berlin and London |
| title_short | Platform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: evidence from Berlin and London |
| title_sort | platform work exploitation and migrant worker resistance evidence from berlin and london |
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