Collective strategies of resistance to the precarious labour conditions in the digital platform economy: the case of Riders x Derechos

Abstract

The chapter analyses the case of a Spanish self-organization collective of riders that lobbied for the regularization of their initial fraudulent status as ‘false self-employed’. The innovative nature of RxD lies in the fact that it is constituted as a collective with two complementary lines of action: not only does it promote collective action to fight for the labour rights of couriers who work for large digital platforms in very precarious conditions, but it also promotes an alternative business model, organized by the couriers themselves in the form of non-profit cooperatives that offer a last-mile eco-friendly service and use an open-source platform to manage orders, guaranteeing the couriers decent work. It is concluded that while focusing its fight on the Uberization of the labour market, RxD has managed to introduce the debate on precariousness and lack of regulation in the digital economy in the Spanish public opinion, gaining the support of other segments of society such as trade unions, other social movements and the citizenry in general. Moreover, its lobby actions have contributed to placing the debate on the political agenda, resulting in the enactment of the recently passed Riders’ Law.