{"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":67,"pdf_page":81,"physical_index":81,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"af247825e54e8296bafc2087a6df6eb429a059b6ac1e25e0c81c25801e20672e"},"chapter":"Dynamics ofVirtual Work","content":"4 Digital Caporalato\n\nBy delving into the materiality and everyday reality of the work performed by riders and drivers for platform-based services, a phenomenon known as digital caporalato comes to the fore, providing a particularly revealing empirical illustration of the ongoing refeudalisation of the economy and the predatory conditions of inclusion of the migrant workforce in the gig economy. The term ‘caporalato’ (gangmastering) generally refers to a parasitic intermediation between labour demand and supply for the purpose of exploitation, commonly found in specific productive sectors such as agriculture and construction (Perrotta, 2015). In the context of platforms, as elaborated in the following paragraphs, similar mechanisms resurface, particularly affecting the migrant portion of the workforce. Drawing on the work of labour law experts in Italy (Cassano, 2020; Inversi, 2021; Merlo, 2020; Sartori, 2022), the Italian Penal Code (art. 603-bis c.p.) and international organisations (Corbanese & Rosas, 2021; ILO, 2005, 2009), digital caporalato can be defined as an organised intermediation activity taking place through, by means of, or outside but related to the digital platform. It is characterised by conditions of exploitation, taking advantage of the workers’ state of need and their vulnerability. In the last years, the Italian “Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on working conditions, exploitation and safety in public and private workplaces”, set up in 2019, has drawn a dramatic picture of the forms of gangmastering, highlighting in particular the new forms of caporalato affecting the world of digital work. The data that emerges about caporalato, from which apparently no region is exempt, refers to it as a “plague unworthy ofa civilised country” (Parliamentary Inquiry Commission, 2022, p. 8). The government reports specifically point to some aspects of platform-mediated work as areas easily associated with these forms of exploitation, given that “the increasingly evanescent figure ofthe employer often constitutes a favourable opportunity for the emergence of new phenomena oflabour exploitation such as digital caporalato where gig economy workers have replaced farm labourers” (ivi: 31). At international level, the ILO, which supported the creation of the Italian Commission against caporalato, has intervened on several occasions over the years with actions and guidelines to tackle forms of exploitation, human trafficking and illegal labour intermediation (Corbanese & Rosas, 2021; ILO, 2005, 2009).\n\n3 DIGITAL CAPORALATO AND MIGRANT LABOUR IN THE GIG\n\n67","previous_page":66,"next_page":68}