Today we have published the first in a series of studies with the European Trade Union Confederation as part of its Fair Platforms project.
The report answers five main questions:
1) What is algorithmic management and what are its key functions and risks?
2) What does it mean to 'negotiate the algorithm'? What is best practice when it comes to collective agreements on data and algorithmic management? What success have unions had with collective agreements in this area so far?
3) What does the EU Platform Work Directive means for platform workers' algorithmic rights? How can platform workers' make best use of this law?
4) How can workers recover and analyse data on how they are algorithmic managed? What are the best data tools and methods available to help workers do this? What are the best examples of workers' making use of data recovery techniques to good effect?
5) How can unions build their capacity to negotiate the algorithm? What training and infrastructure is required and can it be cost effective? What could an in-house data team/department look like for unions?
There is lots to say about all of this but, for here, we will just focus on three points. First, algorithmic management is becoming an increasingly normalised part of industrial relations, well beyond the platform economy. A recent OECD survey found 79% of firms in Europe have adopted at least one algorithmic management tool, with the average number of AM tools being 3-5. This is something that all unions should be taking seriously and building a response to, not just those organising platform workers.
Secondly, as the technology advances, the ways in which algorithmic management can be used to dominate workers are increasingly all-encompassing. From pay to punishments to performance evaluation, algorithmically-determined working conditions use workers' own data against them, designing bespoke pay rates and task allocation to maximise labour exploitation.
The very act of platform workers having employment contracts weakens the intensity of algorithmic management, but even employees need to be acutely aware of what data is collected on them and how it is used. Unions should aim to strictly control and limit the use of AM tools to a small number of areas, none of which impinge on fundamental rights.
Third, unions have a long-way to go to become fully prepared to negotiate the algorithm. Almost all of the case studies in using data recovery tools/techniques have come from outside of the established union structures. With a new generation of workers who don't remember a time before smart-phones and apps, unions which aren't data savvy are going to be a lot less attractive.
More importantly, data can be a source of power for workers, re-balancing the gaping information asymmetry between them and their bosses. While unions may understandably question how much evidence there is that they will get a return on investment from building data capacities, pioneering initiatives have shown that data tools can help workers win and the importance of data and algorithmic management is only going to grow. Unions which ignore this will be at risk of being left behind.
'Negotiating the Algorithm' is the result of months of research on the topic, including in-depth interviews with people who are at the cutting-edge of work in this area, including data scientists, trade unionists, academics and others. Thanks to all of them for giving their time. We hope it can be a useful resource and welcome any feedback you may have.
Ben Wray, Gig Economy Project co-ordinator |
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Gig Economy news round-up |
LIEFERANDO RIDERS TO STRIKE IN BERLIN AGAINST "ILLEGAL SUB-CONTRACTING": Riders at Lieferando (Just Eat) in Berlin will hold a strike assembly outside the company's German headquarters on Saturday [27 September] to demand that the company withdraws plans to lay-off workers and re-hire them via subcontractors. The strike assembly comes after an investigation revealed in August that Fleetlery, a Lieferando sub-contractor in Berlin, was paying riders cash-in-hand and only paying them for the delivery time, rather than for their whole time at work. Moreover, riders had to pay the sub-contractor to access work with Just Eat and some riders said they were forced to be available at all times for deliveries. Lieferando announced in July that it planned to cut 2,000 jobs across Germany, 20% of the workforce, and establish sub-contracting operations in 34 cities. The use of Fleetlery in Berlin, which started earlier this year, was part of the company trialling the new business model. The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Bärbel Bas, met with the Lieferando Works' Council on 18 September, stating afterwards that "those who work there might suddenly not have good working conditions" and "we don't know if the minimum wage will be paid". Bas added that there was "hardly any willingness" on the part of Lieferando "to discuss a Social Plan with unions and Works' Council" for the 2,000 workers to be laid-off. She said that the government will be conducting investigations into working conditions at Lieferando sub-contractors to ensure "standards are being upheld". The Lieferando Workers' Collective Berlin, which is organising the strike assembly and has majority representation on the Works' Council in the German capital, said the assembly would call for an "end" to "illegal sub-contracting" and demand "no layoffs", "a fair social plan" and "legal work". WOLT TO APPEAL AGAINST RIDER EMPLOYMENT STATUS VERDICT IN FINLAND: Wolt has announced that it will appeal against the decision of Finland's Supreme Administrative Court in May, which found that Wolt's riders were employees. Wolt, a Finnish-founded food delivery platform that is now owned by US company DoorDash, said that it was appealing because it believed the court made errors in its decision-making, including a failure to consider the European Court of Justice Yodel case, widely cited by platforms in an attempt to justify the argument that if riders can use substitutes, then they should be considered self-employed, not employees. Wolt's vice-president of Global Public Policy, Samuel Laurinkari, said that if the verdict was allowed to stand, it would affect "everyone from doctors to house cleaners to babysitters, in principle all work that is carried out on digital platforms". The Finnish union PAM had previously negotiated with Wolt on a collective agreement on the basis of the riders being self-employed, but no agreement could be found. In light of the Supreme Administrative Court verdict, PAM's Annika Rönni-Sällinen said that it "opens up a new angle for collective bargaining". Read more here. UBER SAYS IT WILL TEST ROBO-TAXIS IN GERMANY IN 2026: Ride-hail giant Uber announced on 7 September that it is working with Chinese autonomous vehicle company Momenta on testing self-driving vehicles in Munich, Germany, in 2026. The move comes after Uber's American rival Lyft stated in August that it would be partnering with Chinese firm Baidu on robo-taxis in Europe, starting in the UK and Germany. In the US, robo-taxis already operate in many cities, including Austin, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Uber and Lyft face competition in the robotaxi market from Tesla, which already operates in Austin. It's unclear whether Uber and Momenta have secured approval for autonomous vehicle testing in Germany. No self-driving vehicles have licences to operate in the European Union yet, with a stricter type approval process - whereby authorities verify that the car meets certain safety standards - in place, unlike the US' self-certification model. In June, Politico reported that EU autonomous vehicle standards could be dumped as part of trade negotiations with the US, but the final trade deal - which is yet to get approval from the European Parliament and Council - did not include concessions on regulatory standards. In the UK, the Department of Transport announced in June that it was fast-tracking pilots of autonomous vehicles to Spring 2026. Read more here. JUST EAT APPEALS RULING AFTER THE JUDGE ATTACKED "UNIONISED SPAIN": Just Eat has decided to appeal against a controversial ruling in Spain against the company's claim that they should be compensated for unfair competition by Glovo. The ruling, which was made in July, rejected Just Eat's claim that they were owed €295 million in damages from Glovo because while the Dutch company had respected the Rider Law, which established a legal presumption of employment in the food delivery sector, Glovo had not. Glovo refused to employ its riders until July of this year, some four years after the Rider Law came into force, with Just Eat claiming that the Barcelona-headquartered food delivery platform saved €645 million in labour costs due to its false self-employed business model. In his verdict, judge Álvaro Lobato, widely known to be a fanatical supporter of free-market economics, criticised the "nostalgic echo of unionised Spain" in the Labour Inspectorate's testimony during the hearing, claiming that they "suffer from an indisputable group bias". Lobato, who admitted he "knew nothing of labour law", went on to say that Spain's labour regulations were "controversial and obsolete", and that the independent contractor model was "much more efficient". Spain's Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz registered a complaint about the ruling in a letter to the General Council of the Judiciary, calling on them to "consider the adoption of disciplinary measures". Read more here. DELIVEROO OWNER WILL SHU TO STEP DOWN AS CEO: Will Shu, the CEO of British food delivery platform Deliveroo, will step down once DoorDash's takeover of the company is complete. DoorDash, the US food delivery platform which also owns Wolt in Europe, agreed in May to buy Deliveroo in a deal valuing the company at £2.9 billion, and the deal is set to be completed on 2 October. Other non-executive board members at Deliveroo, which in Europe operates in the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium and Italy, are also set to step down. Shu, who founded the firm in 2013 alongside friend Greg Orlowski and is expected to pocket £170 million from Deliveroo's sale, said the DoorDash takeover was "the right time" to step aside. Deliveroo reported it's first full-year of profit in August. When the company floated on the London stock exchange in 2021, it was valued at £7.6 billion. Under Shu's leadership, Deliveroo's brand has become synonomous with poverty pay and bogus self-employment, with the company announcing it was leaving Spain in 2021 after the Rider Law, which established a legal presumption of employment in the food delivery sector, came into force. Read more here.
Have we missed something important? You can help keep us informed about what's going in the gig economy in Europe by e-mailing GEP@BraveNewEurope.com. |
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The Gig Economy Project is working with the ETUC on a major update to the Digital Platform Observatory, a map of the platform workers' movement in Europe. You can help us update the Observatory by sending us information to GEP@BraveNewEurope.com. Full details here. |
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- The European Campaign for Decent Platform Work will hold an expert session with Sergio Guerrero, an Uber driver in Mexico City and the general secretary of UNTA, discussing Mexico's new law for platform workers. The online event will be held on September 23 at 5pm CET, register here.
- The fourth edition of ETUC's 'Platforum', the trade union forum on platform work, will be held in Nicosia, Cyprus, 25-26 September. See here for details (registration closed).
- Lieferando strike assembly in Berlin outside Lieferando's HQ, Schlesische Str. 34, 10997, 1pm, Saturday 27 September. For more info e-mail: lwc_berlin@systemli.org
- The European Confederation of Industrial and Service Co-ops will host a webinar titled “Who’s the Boss? Algorithmic Management & the Cooperative perspective” on 30 September, 2 to 4.30pm. Click here to register.
Are there more events we should be highlighting? Send us information to GEP@BraveNewEurope.com. |
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Contact project co-ordinator Ben Wray at GEP@BraveNewEurope.com or send a direct message to the Twitter: @project_gig.
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