“The true impact of collaborative-economy relationships is that human and personal relationships have been globalised. In this context, other digital platforms have emerged and altered the essence of this collaborative economy. This platform-based capitalism is based on the comprehensive outsourcing of services to freelance workers. Stable forms of work have been replaced by very short-term forms of employment,” commented Anna Ginès, Assistant Professor of Labour Law at ESADE Law School and Director of the ESADE Institute for Labour Studies, at a recent session entitled “New Forms of Work on Digital Platforms”.

During her talk, Prof. Ginès reviewed the key characteristics of digital platforms: work is organised in micro-tasks, which are outsourced to a large number of service providers (hence the term crowdsourcing) in order to cover the demand at any given time; services are contracted on demand (a request is matched to a service provider in a matter of seconds and the contract covers precisely the amount time required to perform the task at the specified moment); the service providers are considered freelancers (they use their own structure, cover their own costs and are free to decide when they work). “It’s not about flexible scheduling but rather about determining when one is willing to work – an apparent form of freedom. Forms of work have thus been transformed, becoming more precarious; they are not protected by labour laws, occupational hazard regulations, maximum and minimum scheduling guidelines, work-life balance measures, etc.”, observed Prof. Ginès.

“We can identify two types of digital platforms,” explained Prof. Ginès. “First, there are those which orchestrate services on demand. These platforms traffic in traditional tasks like delivery, transport, cleaning, etc. The workforce is mobile, local and oriented towards the end consumer. Then there are crowd-employment platforms, where people perform online tasks such as describing images or translating texts. The workforce is virtual, global and oriented towards companies and institutions.” She added: “The challenges associated with digital platforms therefore go beyond legal categorisation.”

Unionisation and collective bargaining

María Luz Rodríguez, Professor of Labour Law and Social Security at the University of Castile–La Mancha, also spoke at the event. “The first thing unions are concerned about is the workers’ legal relationship,” she commented. “For-profit platforms are already seeing unionisation movements, although it’s not a classic sort of unionisation. The union movement itself is not really in play. Rather, it’s a sort of unionisation that addresses these new realities. A specific employer is no longer the link that joins workers together.”

“The collaborative economy is expanding commercialisation in all spheres,” observed David Murillo, Lecturer of Social Sciences and Researcher at the Institute for Social Innovation at ESADE. “It’s a business that is dominated by American companies.” In the digital economy, Mr. Murillo explained, “there is a libertarian block – the Americans – and then there is another block – the Chinese – which is also libertarian but highly regulated. Europe is in the middle, trapped between the libertarian logic and the regulated logic.” He added: “The collaborative economy uses individuals not as a resource but as a way to maximise profits.” Finally, he noted: “The collaborative economy is nothing more than a collateral phenomenon within the phenomenon of the digital economy.”

The session “New Forms of Work on Digital Platforms” also featured the participation of Joaquín Nieto, Director of the Spanish Office of the International Labour Organisation; Ignasi Beltran de Heredia, Assistant Professor of Labour Law and Social Security at the Open University of Catalonia and Academic Assistant at ESADE Law School; M. Luz Bataller, Director General of the Catalan Labour Inspectorate; Adrián Todolí, Lecturer of Labour Law and Social Security at the University of Valencia; Esperanza Macarena Sierra, Associate Professor of Labour Law and Social Security at the University of Seville; Vanessa Sánchez, Principal Associate in the Department of Labour Law at Garrigues; and Elisabet Calzada, Lawyer in the Department of Labour Law at Cuatrecasas.