Reshaping Work Regional - BCN 2019 - A glocal perspective of Platform Couriers - Dimmons Research
Channel: Ouishare TV
Date: 2019-10-23

A glocal perspective of Platform Couriers: A global cities overview on platform economy and labour with a deep local focus on Barcelona.

Autores: Mayo Fuster, Ricard Espelt, Melissa Renau (Dimmons Research Group – IN3 UOC)

ABSTRACT: The platform economy that is, the collaborative consumption and production of
capital and labour among distributed groups supported by a digital platform, is
growing rapidly and exponentially, and has burst onto the main cities of the world,
becoming a top priority for governments around the globe. It opens up challenges
as well as opportunities. From the challenges side, the platform economy occurs
in a regulatory vacuum, as it challenges existing regulations and it is unclear
which regulatory schemes and government competences levels are applied to
the platforms, and with unsystematised policy reactions and uncertainty towards
which policies may be more beneficial. From the opportunities perspective,
collaborative practices are opening up a tremendous potential and opportunity for
economic development, sustainability and public innovation that are limitly or not
being exploited.

One of the sectors in which platform economy provokes major impacts is on
labour. In concrete the platforms around the provision of on-demand delivery
services through couriers are one of the most visible faces of an emergent sector
that it is expected to become a significant source of employment. In this regard,
this proposal aims to provide a global and local overview of the platform economy
and its impacts on labour transformation in cities though the specific case of
platform couriers. On the one hand, to provide a global and comparative frame,
it will sketch an international overview on the courier’s platform case, and on the
other hand, it will focus deeply on the specific local case of Barcelona.

For the global perspective the methodology is based on 13 interviews to platform
couriers from 12 cities (Berlin and Munich (Germany); Padova (Italy); Barcelona,
Madrid, Seville and Valencia (Spain); Paris (France); Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds,
London (United Kingdom)). Regarding the local dimension, the methodology is
based on 20 interviews on perceptions of platform economy to Barcelona’s
experts over the main issues at stake at city and industry level concerning
platform work and platform activities.

Attention is given to analysing couriers and experts’ insights on the impact on the
economic and employment situation in cities, including employment patterns,
labour processes, working conditions and composition of the workforce. It also
includes an analysis on perceptions on issues related to the welfare and social
protection of workers, how platform activities impact on urban socio-economic
process and on policy initiatives and regulations regarding platform labour in
cities.

The work presented is part of the European Project PLUS (Platform Labour In
Urban Spaces)