The mobilisation of gig economy couriers in Italy
In October 2016, in Turin, northern Italy, cycle couriers working for the German food delivery company Foodora staged a series of public protests which quickly attracted considerable media attention and became known as the first case of workers’ mobilisation in the Italian ‘gig economy’. The protests sparked a lively debate in Italian public opinion about working conditions in the so-called ‘gig’ or ‘on-demand’ economy. However, the debate remains confused by the ambiguous meaning of these terms, often conflated with unrelated concepts such as that of the ‘sharing economy’ (Blanchard, 2015; Drahokoupil and Fabo, 2016); and by the as yet limited understanding of what these ‘new’ work organisation forms entail for the evolution of employment practices (Eurofound, 2015; Valenduc and Vendramin, 2016) and for the possibilities of workers’ collective organisation. Analysing the case of the Foodora riders’ mobilisation in Italy thus offers a timely opportunity to reflect on the current challenges facing the labour movement, in Italy and in Europe, in the brave new world of the ‘gig economy’.
Metadata
- Research publication, Case study-platform, Case study-worker
- Italy
- Yes
- transport
- On-location platform-determined routine work
- Foodora
- representation, industrial relations, social dialogue, industrial action
- English
- Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research (Publisher)
- Qualitative research
- 2017
- Subscription