Uber, the poster company of the gig economy, has agreed its Australian workers deserve more employee-like conditions. Why it has done this now isn’t too hard to work out.
The use of “gamification” in stock trading and other apps raises new legal challenges. Existing legal tools should be adapted to meet these challenges.
A trial in France revealed how the platform’s algorithm established a subordination relationship between riders and the firm. Could we be witnessing the beginning of the end of “uberisation”?
A recent study highlights the precarious world of rideshare and delivery drivers during the pandemic, and their struggle to be heard as non-unionised contractors.
Feudalism has been replaced by capitalism, and the new villeiny — or neo-villeiny — has emerged to reflect a relationship between a worker and an organization.
Gig work is entering almost every industry and changing the relationship between workers, employers, service providers and customers. But gig workers face new and unique challenges.
Taxi drivers and Uber drivers perform the same work, but Uber’s categorization as a tech company has contributed to the historical stigma against taxi drivers.
A rise in contract and gig work in professional and creative fields is affecting steady employment. Research shows that to maintain a career in these fields, a worker needs to consider family.
The British Supreme Court ruling in favour of Uber drivers offers some hope that gig workers, many of them immigrants, might finally be given basic rights. But there’s still lots of work to do.
Freelancers who have lost work during the COVID-19 crisis can take steps to ensure they have a successful long-term career in the post-pandemic period.
Proposition 22 keeps workers for app-based companies like Uber and Lyft classified as independent contractors, but it also reveals deeper problems with contemporary labour markets.
Workers say they love the freedom of platforms like Uber and TaskRabbit but find it hard to earn a livable wage. Cooperatives that give worker-owners a voice in how they are run offer a solution.
With the recession exposing more workers to the vagaries of gig work, it’s more urgent than ever to close the legal loopholes that deny workers employment rights.