Documents Vieira, Tiago 4 results

"This article investigates the effects of the Spanish initiative to deploy a universal presumption of employment relationship for all platform couriers (Ley Rider). Drawing from 36 semi-structured interviews and several non-participant observations in Spain, this article shows that the impact of this initiative has been positive but limited. The eradication of bogus self-employment is a positive development, as it allows workers to access safety nets such as social security and employment rights while preserving valued aspects of their employment model like flexible scheduling. However, this progress is undermined by the platforms' efforts to circumvent regulations through what we term a ‘chameleonic labour process'. Such chameleonic behaviour on the part of the platforms includes: outsourcing labour operations to other companies; maintaining the independent contractor model; and, condoning undocumented work. Despite some progress, workers continue to face insecurity and low wages across all platforms, albeit in varying degrees and in different forms."

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited.

"The abrupt lockdown experienced by a big part of the world population due to the COVID-19 pandemic has bestowed upon home delivery services an unexpected importance. Officially considered amongst “essential services”, their workers circulate freely while most people are advised (when not forced) to stay in their homes. The present paper explores how this context helps to shed light on the precarious situation of the majority of the platform delivery workers (PDW). This is done through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and digital ethnography of the interactions within a WhatsApp group. The main finding is that the COVID-19 context deepened the precarization of the PDW confronting them with four dilemmas from which there is no way out."

"Rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation technologies are set to transform the nature of work and the workplace itself. Advanced software systems with high degrees of autonomy are expected to perform a broad range of functions that are carried out by humans today. While the adoption of AI at workplaces is expected to positively impact the organisation of work by increasing operational efficiency, enabling informed decisions to be made faster while speeding up product and service innovation, new technologies can also have a negative impact on working conditions and the well-being of million of workers around the globe. Emerging evidence suggest that AI has the potential to contribute to an erosion of the middle class and a ‘job polarisation' that may inexorably lead to a greater economic disparity between highly skilled jobs and low-skilled jobs which would be too costly to automate. This current publication is based on three student papers as part of the PhD Summer School 2023 – AI and the Transformation of Work: Employment, Skills and Job Quality. The summer school was organised by the FES Competence Centre on the Future of Work in Berlin in cooperation with the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society..."

This article examines the phenomenon of self-exploitation among platform couriers, using the company Glovo as a case study. The research, based on a qualitative approach with interviews from 22 different stakeholders, highlights the ways in which precarity, entrepreneurial subjectivity, and gamification intersect to create what are referred to as postdisciplinary control mechanisms. These mechanisms shift the locus of exploitation from the employer to the workers' inner selves, which are compelled to follow implicit guidelines due to their precarious situation. The use of algorithmic management by platform companies like Glovo plays a major role in this architecture marked by overwork, exposure to hazardous conditions, and economic dependence. The article urges policymakers to look beyond platform workers' employment status debate and address the design of algorithms and broader forms of labour precarity, so that policies that successfully improve workers' experience are designed."