{"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":191,"pdf_page":201,"physical_index":201,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"01a2071a477b29101c528ac6191bf48e9ff271a89db1628ff6901ef2424ac9fe"},"chapter":"Dynamics ofVirtual Work","content":"6 Discussion and Conclusions\n\nIn this chapter, we focused on the forms of collective organising of migrant and BAME platform workers by looking at the specific case of the independent union IWGB, the main organisation in the UK currently dealing with the collective representation of migrant and precarious work. In doing so, based on the data gathered during our ethnographic research, we showed that the observed forms of organising were built both within and outside the union. Our analysis is therefore in line with the debate on the ‘organising model’ that is increasingly being adopted by unions to reach underrepresented categories of workers, and migrant workers in particular, to build alliances with other collective actors (Holgate, 2005; Milkman, 2000), represented mainly by civil society associations and co-ethnic networks supporting migrant workers (Martin, 2010; McBride & Greenwood, 2009). In the context of platform work, this approach is carried out in particular by independent unions, which together with grassroots groups were the first to organise food-delivery riders in Europe (Borghi & Murgia, 2024; Borghi et al., 2021; Leonardi, et al., 2019; Tassinari & Maccarrone, 2020).\n\nIn our study, first, we analysed the main characteristics of union action both in the phase of approach and interlocution with migrant and BAME platform workers and in the processes of active integration of the same migrant workers into the union structure in correspondence with specific struggles and protests. Second, we showed how, during specific struggles and campaigns, the independent union in question acted by building bridges and links with other organisations capable of supporting and sustaining the claims of migrant workers. In doing so, we noted how IWGB was able to effectively capitalise on the expertise it had developed in representing precarious migrant labour in other contexts, such as cleaning, gaining visibility and reputation that allowed it to initiate a dialogue with food-delivery platform workers. Reputation and visibility then gave way to a long interlocution that allowed it to define shared objectives with migrant and BAME workers through a democratic process that included and defined common demands, starting from the real needs expressed by workers. This involved a long process of mediation and mutual recognition by the workers with their needs and by the union with its own experiences and practices. This meant taking workers’ claims seriously, even when they were not in line with the union’s expectations. This contribution is therefore also an invitation to open a structured reflection on the need to set up flexible and shared representation strategies with migrant and BAME workers, capable of redefining union expectations to standardise migrant workers’ claims and to understand their specific needs linked to both working conditions and biographical trajectories. Indeed, as Alberti and colleagues (2013) suggest, the false dichotomy between labour and migration issues must be deconstructed, not least to open up new shared meanings and spaces for collective organising.\n\n7 ORGANISING MIGRANT PLATFORM WORKERS IN LONDON\n\n191","previous_page":190,"next_page":192}