{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","title":"Migrant Labour in the Gig Economy The Intersection of Migrant Labour, Platform Capitalism, and Resistance","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9783031912610","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","id":"ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","uuid":"ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","title":"Migrant Labour in the Gig Economy The Intersection of Migrant Labour, Platform Capitalism, and Resistance","normalized_title":"migrantlabourinthegigeconomytheintersectionofmigrantlabourplatformcapitalismandresistance","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9783031912610","isbns":["9783031912610","9783031912627"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":270,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Migrant%20Labour%20in%20the%20Gig%20Economy%20The%20Intersection%20of%20Migrant%20Labour%2C%20Platform%20Capitalism%2C%20and%20Resistance","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32/search"},"page":{"printed_page":188,"pdf_page":198,"physical_index":198,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"f24654e733c80c7b987b536fd091029910c1454cdea68e4ec744450fc6360fef"},"chapter":"Dynamics ofVirtual Work","content":"5 Beyond the Union\n\nIWGB’s activities largely revolved around specific campaigns focused on emblematic cases of ethnic discrimination and misconduct involving migrant and British BAME workers in the context of platform work. During the fieldwork, we had the opportunity to directly follow the protests against Ocado Zoom, a company focused on developing automated technologies for logistics management. To test new technologies, the company developed an experimental food-delivery service that had as its centrepiece the warehouse showroom where the new technologies were on display for potential customers from all over the world.\n\nAs one of the protagonists of the protest told us in a long interview, the company enticed self-employed workers, predominantly of Pakistani and Bengali origin, who were contracted exclusively through service providers Ryde and Stuart, to invest in electric or hybrid vehicles.\n\nThey wanted to use only polluted free vehicles, zero carbon miles and all that things, which is obviously not true because after that public campaign, after they made their advertisement and all that thing, what they’ve done, they promised that they were going to give us 40 hour per week, which is a full time in the UK, 40 hours per week guaranteed, if we switch our cars to the green. So, most of us bought this car using our own expenses. I had money in savings, and I sold my other car. And mix it up. And I bought this car with my money safe for my house. I want to buy my house, I’m going to get the mortgage, so that was my money, but I thought, OK, I can own this money back within a year, ifthey guarantee me 40 hours money every week. And now I am messed up because my plan was to buy a house next year or end of this year. Now I’m totally messed up. I have this car. I can’t do anything with this car. Like, how can I own money now? I don’t have a job, they literally made us all jobless. They offered me £10.85 an hour, minimum London wage, if I had applied to one more company they chose to manage the fleet. As self-employed, I was earning like £15 an hour. Even sometime more.\n\nPromises of a substantial increase in delivery orders, equivalent to 40 working hours per week, were made as part of a ‘green transition’ initiative. However, shortly after these workers had invested their savings in environmentally friendly vehicles, the new management, succeeding the previous one, abruptly dismantled the plan. Most delivery orders were redirected to couriers using diesel cars and motorbikes, rendering the investments futile. To make matters worse, the company implemented a fire-and-rehire tactic to cut costs under the new contract, subsequently reducing payment per delivery. The perception of having been misled and the mockery of being in the position of earning less than in the previous period, together with the company’s refusal to acknowledge its mistakes, led to a campaign to denounce such situations of discrimination. This situation was even more unbearable because the company was playing on ethnic divisions to prevent workers from uniting.\n\n188\n\nP. BORGHI AND A. MURGIA","previous_page":187,"next_page":189}