#GigEconomy#AI#Algorithms#Work: "For algorithms to truly be transparent and fair, however, traditional institutions, unions and relevant public bodies must be able to access the data gathered by tech companies, all the while upholding data privacy and business confidentiality.
We need a new public and independent data intermediary that serves the general interest: a new democratic institution to organise work in the 21st century. I am thinking of a “data trust for digital workers” to give employees more control over their data, establishing legitimate uses for the information collected as well as the circumstances under which it is produced and the purposes it can be used for.
Workers and unions must be able to actively participate in shaping the governance of data and algorithms to limit their negative impact and share the benefits of AI. If workers are engaged and empowered, productivity and efficiency will also grow. In the context of the twin digital and ecological transition, a form of algorithmic governance that contributes to guaranteeing the strategic autonomy and the competitiveness of European industry, but also the advancement of workers’ rights, is more urgent than ever."
In Blood In the Machine,@bcmerchant delivers the definitive history of the #Luddites, and the clearest analysis of the automator's playbook, where "entrepreneurs'" lawless extraction from workers is called "innovation" and "inevitable":
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
But workers are losing autonomy, not gaining it. The steampunk dream is of a world where we get the benefits of factory production with the life of a craft producer. The #GigEconomy has delivered its opposite: craft workers - Uber drivers, casualized doctors and dog-walkers - who are as surveilled and controlled as factory workers.
I've said it before but I'll say it again... if #gigeconomy firms feel threatened by th EU's moves to extend to their #workers the sorts of rights widely enjoyed elsewhere in the labour market, then anyone who thinks the gig economy is about new #technology has missed what's going on.
The only reason the big gig economy firms feel threatened by labour rights is that their business model's one innovation is finding new ways to exploit workers & get them to collude in such exploration!
American support for #unions is at its highest level in generations, from 70% (general population) to 88% (Millenials) - and yet, American unionization rates are pathetic.
That's about to change.
--
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
Abruzzo has taken a series of muscular, bold moves to protect American workers, turning the tide in the #ClassWar that the #OnePercent has waged on workers since the #Reagan administration. For example, #Abruzzo is working to turn #WorkerMisclassification - the fiction that an employee is a small business contracting with their boss, a staple of the #GigEconomy - into an #UnfairLaborPractice:
Periodic reminder that if you ditch the zero-trust part, if you admit that trust matters even a tiny bit, you can ditch the consensus algorithm and run the entire blockchain exercise on one shitty five year old Android phone. A firstgen raspberry pi would be overkill. Seven transactions per second wouldn’t have stretched a 486 on dial-up in 1996 and the whole stack is an embarrassment.
I'm glad this shit is so illegal in Germany, customs police (enforcing labour laws and taxes) would kick in doors for even attempting to hire children... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTMF6xEiAaY
A decent programme on workers’ rights reform was one of the few things the Labour Party had left. Now it has watered down protections for gig economy and probationary workers , despite already being ahead in the polls, to appear more business friendly https://www.ft.com/content/30a8a3f1-c5ad-4b85-bb48-7b7de05470f4
#Uber#GigEconomy#RideHailing: "Uber’s reluctance to explain how it improved margins and established a P&L advantage versus Lyft is because the explanation directly contradicts these corporate narratives, and because the explanation would help investors see that the recent rate of margin gains is not sustainable.
Uber has abandoned everything that got the market to enthusiastically support them 10 years ago. Uber is now just a much higher cost version of the traditional operators they vilified as an “evil taxi cartel”. Their fares are now higher than traditional taxis used to charge, they no longer offer a lot more cars in peak periods and they no longer serve neighborhoods throughout each city. Uber has completely abandoned its original “megagrowth driven by much more service at much lower prices” strategy but still tells investors that robust growth will drive future equity appreciation. Every Uber attempt to mimic Amazon’s expansion beyond its core market has also failed.
From a narrow P&L perspective Uber’s recent moves to cut service and raise prices are sensible, but if openly discussed investors could realize that the entire corporate growth narrative was always a sham. Investors would stop seeing Uber as a dynamic fast-growing “tech” company and would realize it was simply a player in the economically difficult and slowly growing urban car service industry. Investors applauded Uber for introducing innovative technology that “disrupted” a backward industry and brought huge benefits to consumers and cities.
It does not want those investors to see that the Uber’s “innovative technology” is focused on the algorithmic exploitation of both customers and drivers. It does not want investors to see that none of its recent P&L gains were due to true productivity improvements and thus these gains cannot be extrapolated into the future."
Ola, Uber and Zomato: India's gig workers see hope in new state law
The western state of Rajasthan passed a landmark law that aims to provide platform-based gig workers social security benefits - a right they have been demanding for a long time - among other provisions.
#SouthAfrica#UberEats#GigEconomy: "Despite facing challenges such as low earnings, lack of insurance support, and allegations of unfair termination for years, Uber Eats drivers in Johannesburg stayed away from unionizing because they feared losing work. But the drivers at the monthly meeting told Rest of World they believed it was time to reconsider their stand and collectively push back. “We would not be doing this if our company in the least cared about us,” Mlilo said, addressing the other drivers. He and another Uber Eats rider, Thando Dlodlo, have become the unofficial leaders of this group.
An Uber spokesperson told Rest of World the company remains committed to the almost 20,000 delivery drivers that it employs across South Africa, and regularly consults with them to ensure a safe and rewarding experience. “Looking forward, Uber remains committed to working with delivery people representatives, policymakers, and the industry to guarantee the benefits and protections platform workers deserve while maintaining the independence they want,” the spokesperson said."
Zephyr Teachout: I think the black box point is really important and it’s a black box at a societal level, at an industry level and at a worker level. The obfuscation is part of the exercise of power itself. When I look at this moment, I see a few different things. One is that there’s some workplaces that have always been totally surveilled, home care workers, if not total, pretty close to total even before this or the capacities for close to total care. But there are really significant moments in the rise of surveillance and really significant changes in the nature of the technology.
Zephyr Teachout: One part of the surveillance workplace is what is being surveyed and the other part is the way in which that surveillance translates into wage differential, differential treatment, different bonuses."
#GigEconomy#Algorithms#Precarity#AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination: "If these workers for gig platform companies were classified as employees rather than independent contractors then they would be able to demand a wage floor, overtime compensation, and the right to organize a union. But given the low minimum wage and statutory carveouts for “waiting time,” Uber and Lyft as employers would still be able to use personalized pay to incentivize and control worker behavior.
Indeed, the core motivations of these companies to use algorithmic wage discrimination—labor control and wage uncertainty—could apply to many other forms of employment. Gig nurses, for example, could be offered different payments than their colleagues for the same work, at the same place, based on what the hiring platform knows about how much these nurses were willing to accept for previous assignments, or what they know about their debt and other financial obligations."
This is a story full of unintended consequences ...
The iFood Pedal program operates in six major Brazilian cities where the Tembici bike-sharing system is available.
IFood Pedal riders are given shorter, more lucrative routes than those who use their own bikes. Given that workers get paid chiefly by delivery and not by distance, iFood Pedal drivers are “able to earn more in a shorter period of time".
Miguel used his own bike before switching to iFood Pedal. He realized that although using his own bike was the cheapest option, he made less money. Hiring an e-bike almost doubled his weekly expenses, but his income grew enough to offset the costs.
Due to the poor condition of the bikes, some workers have begun abusing the system. To ensure they still get the better routes, they hire a bike and leave it chained to a pole or fence. They then use their own bicycles or motorbikes to complete the deliveries.
2/10 📝 Our first paper, "Uncovering Gig Worker-Centered Design Opportunities in Food Delivery Work" (by Shuhao Ma, Paulo Bala, Valentina Nisi, John Zimmerman, Nuno Jardim Nunes), delves into the complexities of food delivery work in the gig economy. 🛵 #gigeconomy
#Brazil#GigEconomy#OnlineReviews: "The enthusiastic reviews posted by these gig workers, however, are not organic expressions of authentic admiration at all. Gig reviewers told Rest of World their paid testimonials are heavily scripted, with no room for real, honest impressions. This means reviewers have no idea whether a product works as they say it does — or, indeed, whether it exists at all.
Though paid reviews might be an effective driver of sales for goods that do exist, paying for product reviews in any situation falls afoul of Brazilian consumer law, Marcio Chaves, a lawyer and specialist in Brazilian digital law at Almeida Advogados, told Rest of World. Seemingly genuine reviews sold as advertisements potentially fall under the country’s consumer protection laws against false advertising, he said, regardless of whether the products are real or not.
Gig reviewers are more worried about the risk of not taking these jobs. Pressed for employment in Brazil’s stalling economy, they told Rest of World hard times had pushed them into the business. To make ends meet, they review products without ever having used them, opening themselves up to — in the worst of cases — charges of larceny."
Lately, when people talk about innovation and job creation, and someone asks, “How many people work in jobs that didn’t even exist twenty years ago?” my reply is, “How many people work in jobs that don’t exist today?”