Platform economy
The Emergence of a Labor Movement in the Platform Economy
In recent years, the landscape of work has undergone a profound transformation, driven by the rise of digital platforms and the gig economy. Workers in the platform economy, including gig workers and content creators, find themselves in a unique position where their livelihoods are heavily influenced by the actions and algorithms of the platforms they rely on. This article explores the growing phenomenon of decentralized collective action (DCA), a new form of labor activism emerging in response to the challenges faced by workers in the platform economy.
Two notable examples highlight the power of DCA in this space. In 2019, two DoorDash drivers, Dave Levy and Nikos Kanelopoulos, initiated the #DeclineNow Facebook group, which has since grown to over 30,000 members. Their goal was to encourage fellow drivers to decline low-paying deliveries, forcing the platform to offer better compensation. This grassroots effort shed light on the profit-driven objectives of app-based companies and the determination of gig workers to reverse this trend.
In a different domain, Twitch streamers took collective action in September 2021. Frustrated by the platform’s perceived inaction against harassment, many streamers participated in a day-long protest, resulting in a 5% to 15% drop in platform viewership. This demonstration, known as #ADayOffTwitch, highlighted the influence content creators can wield when they unite to address platform issues.
Decentralized collective action differs from traditional labor unions in its bottom-up approach. Platform workers connect with each other through peer-to-peer networks, voicing their concerns on social media, online forums, and the media. They disrupt platform operations and leverage their audiences and customers to effect change. In some cases, they even seek out alternative, worker-friendly platforms.
However, despite some successful individual actions, DCA has faced challenges in achieving sustained impact. The decentralized nature of platform work makes it difficult for workers to coordinate effectively, and platforms can foster competition among them. Additionally, low barriers to entry and an abundance of willing participants on the supply side limit the leverage of individual workers.
To address these challenges and build a more sustainable path forward, platform workers are developing strategies to voice their concerns through DCA. This article outlines some of these strategies and lays out a roadmap for achieving outcomes that benefit all stakeholders: participants, platforms, and end users.
One of the fundamental issues in the platform economy is the classification of workers as independent contractors. This categorization, while allowing for flexibility, often denies workers benefits and protections enjoyed by traditional employees. To create a fairer and more equitable environment, platforms should prioritize long-term sustainability over short-term profit incentives. This could involve setting prices and policies that shift more value towards workers and enable them to provide higher-quality services.
Historically, collective action has been instrumental in addressing labor-related issues. Labor unions emerged during the Industrial Revolution, advocating for better wages, shorter hours, and safer working conditions. These movements led to important legal protections for workers in the 20th century. However, with the platform economy’s unique challenges and decentralized nature, traditional collective action approaches may no longer suffice.
As the platform economy continues to mature and consolidate, the need for a new social contract between platforms and their workers becomes evident. Mutual accountability and evolving protections and responsibilities are essential in this evolving landscape. It is time to explore innovative forms of collective action that can reshape the relationship between platforms and the workers who power them.
Shaping the Future of Work: Strategies for Decentralized Collective Action in the Platform Economy
The rise of the platform economy has brought to light a myriad of labor issues that workers are now addressing through decentralized collective action (DCA). This article delves into the reasons behind this shift and explores various strategies employed by workers to voice their concerns and drive change.
Reasons Behind Decentralized Collective Action
Workers in the platform economy face a range of challenges, both traditional labor issues and platform-specific concerns. These include the right to unionize, ownership of data, content moderation, access to customers, harassment in virtual workspaces, and monetization policies. These issues have fueled tensions between workers and platforms, prompting the need for collective action.
Platform Lock-in and Worker Dependence
One significant challenge for platform workers is their dependency on specific platforms due to network effects and a lack of data portability. Platforms control customer relationships and market data, making it difficult for workers to switch to other platforms or establish worker-owned alternatives. This dependence on platforms can lead to dissatisfaction with pay rates, income instability, and burnout.
Worker Classification and Unionization Hurdles
The classification of platform workers as “independent contractors” denies them benefits and protections enjoyed by traditional employees. Furthermore, this classification exempts platform workers from the National Labor Relations Act, preventing them from unionizing. Despite this, platforms often exert significant control over workers’ jobs, leading to regulatory disputes.
Incentives for Worker Commoditization
Platforms often benefit from commoditizing workers to maintain a uniform customer experience. For instance, platforms like TikTok prioritize algorithmic content feeds over individual follower relationships. While this ensures consistency, it limits workers’ ability to establish independent businesses.
Challenges of Worker Heterogeneity
In creator platforms, a small segment of top creators wields significant bargaining power, leading to preferential treatment from platforms. This top-heavy distribution of power makes it challenging to organize effectively for all creators, as top performers may not have the motivation to push for improved conditions that benefit everyone.
Strategies for Decentralized Collective Action
To address these challenges, platform workers have adopted various strategies within the DCA framework:
Informal Unionization (worker-to-worker): Workers coordinate and submit demands to platforms, as seen in protests by Twitch streamers, TikTok creators, and musicians advocating for fairer deals.
Mutual Aid (worker-to-worker): Workers engage in reciprocal support, such as Instagram pods and informal insurance pools.
Third-Party Product Enhancement (worker-to-worker): Workers design digital tools to improve the worker experience, like Driver’s Seat Cooperative for rideshare drivers.
Information Leveling (worker-to-worker): Workers share insights and information to navigate opaque platform environments, exemplified by FYPM and Turkopticon.
Algoactivism (worker-to-algorithm): Workers resist algorithmic control, as seen in the DoorDash #DeclineNow movement and similar efforts on platforms like TikTok, Uber, and Airbnb.
Public Media Campaigns (worker-to-public): Workers share grievances on social media to raise awareness, such as viral TikTok videos by delivery drivers.
While these DCA strategies can have short-term impact, they often fall short in driving lasting change. Platform policies remain relatively unchanged, and platforms may respond with performative gestures. Algoactivism provides temporary solutions, and building new tools is time-consuming and susceptible to platform changes. Informal unions often lack the scale needed for significant change.
The Future of Decentralized Collective Action
Given the limitations of these strategies within the existing platform ecosystem, workers in the platform labor movement may find more success by focusing on creating worker-friendly platforms. These new platforms can disrupt the existing ecosystem and provide alternatives for workers, enabling them to exit from the current system.
Workers in the platform economy are increasingly turning to decentralized collective action (DCA) for several compelling reasons:
Labor Issues and Platform-Specific Concerns
Workers in the platform economy face both traditional labor issues such as the right to unionize and platform-specific concerns like data ownership, content moderation, customer reach, harassment in virtual workspaces, and monetization policies. These issues drive the need for collective action to address them effectively.
Platform Lock-In and Leverage
Many platform workers are locked into specific platforms due to network effects and a lack of data portability. This lock-in gives platforms significant control over market data and customer relationships. Workers become reliant on these platforms for their livelihoods, which can lead to dissatisfaction with pay rates, income instability, and burnout.
Worker Classification and Unionization
The classification of platform workers as independent contractors rather than employees has significant implications. Independent contractors are not covered by the National Labor Relations Act, which means they lack the legal right to unionize. Yet platforms often exert considerable control over their work, leading to disputes and regulatory battles over worker classification.
Incentives for Worker Commoditization
Platforms have an incentive to commoditize their workers to provide a consistent customer experience. This can undermine workers’ ability to establish their own businesses or operate independently, as seen in the uniformity of services provided by platform workers like rideshare drivers.
Heterogeneity of Workers
In the platform economy, there’s a significant disparity in success among workers. Top creators, for example, wield disproportionate bargaining power, receiving special treatment from platforms. This makes it challenging to organize effectively, as the most powerful creators may not be motivated to advocate for better conditions for all workers.
The Alternative: Exit or Build Worker-Friendly Platforms
Given these limitations, some argue that the alternative to voice within existing platforms is exit. Workers may choose to seek employment or opportunities elsewhere if conditions prove irreparable within the current system. In this view, DCA can be more effective when used to create worker-friendly platforms that disrupt the existing ecosystem, enabling workers to exit from it.
The future of worker ownership and enfranchisement in the platform economy is taking shape through a combination of regulatory changes and organizational restructuring. Here are some emerging efforts in that direction:
Platform Cooperatives: These are tech-native versions of cooperative organizations where platforms are owned and governed by their workers and users. Examples include the Driver’s Cooperative, a ride-hailing app entirely owned and governed by workers, and Stocksy, a cooperatively owned marketplace for stock photography and video. However, platform cooperatives often struggle to attract outside capital, which hinders their competitiveness compared to traditional corporations.
Cryptonetworks and DAOs: Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) provide a promising alternative. In these networks, ownership is distributed to stakeholders through native cryptocurrencies or tokens, rewarding actions that contribute to the network’s success. Cryptonetworks addresses issues of access to capital and governance complexity, making them competitive with traditional corporations. Token-based voting and reputation voting enable decentralized decision-making at scale.
Labor Laws: There is potential for labor laws to evolve to protect the rights of platform workers. Regulations could codify earnings and revenue share rates for creators and gig workers, similar to minimum wage and overtime pay regulations. Data portability and ownership regulations could also empower workers and users to migrate between platforms and have more control over their data.
It’s important to note that while regulation can protect worker rights, it may also have unintended consequences, potentially favoring incumbent tech giants. Striking the right balance in regulation is crucial.
In these emerging models, users and workers are taking action in a decentralized manner to shift to new networks, motivated by benefits such as better governance, financial incentives through tokens, and improved worker conditions. The success of these alternatives depends on their ability to genuinely benefit workers, creating pressure on incumbent platforms to improve their policies and products in favor of participants. Decentralized collective action is a driving force behind these changes, influencing existing platforms and paving the way for the next generation of worker-friendly networks. As workers and creators realize their collective power, these movements are expected to grow, reshaping the platform economy and emphasizing the strength of distributed collective action over hierarchical structures.