Workers’ contentions over unpaid labour time in food delivery and domestic work platforms in Belgium

Autor: Franke, Lea Milena, Pulignano, Valeria, Mara', Claudia
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Work in the Global Economy. 3:6-30
ISSN: 2732-4176
DOI: 10.1332/273241723x16803276410614
Popis: This paper examines how platform workers providing food delivery and domestic services in Belgium engage in contentions over unpaid labour time. Drawing on theories of organisational misbehaviour around the ‘wage-effort’ bargain, we explore how workers reclaim some control over their income by contesting their exposure to unpaid labour time. Based on a qualitative analysis of two labour platforms, the article illustrates how platforms’ systems of time control expose workers to unpaid labour time through work extensification (i.e., food delivery) and work intensification (i.e., domestic work). It also indicates how workers contest platforms’ control over unpaid labour time by developing various practices around platforms’ systems of control. Food delivery couriers increase their income by cutting down on unpaid idle time, while domestic workers try to improve their access to clients, jobs and pay which sometimes implies to intentionally prolong their unpaid labour time. Thus, we argue that examining workers’ contentions over unpaid labour time contributes to a better understanding of how workers can develop a sense of agency in a context of exploitative platform work by actively navigating and purposefully using their exposure to unpaid labour time to regain control over their income. ispartof: Work in the Global Economy status: accepted
Databáze: OpenAIRE