Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T19:39:09.627Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Negotiating labour standards in the gig economy: Airtasker and Unions New South Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Kate Minter
Kate Minter*
Affiliation:
Unions NSW, Australia
*
Kate Minter, Unions NSW, Level 3, Trades Hall, 4-10 Goulburn Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia. Email: kminter@unionsnsw.org.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The ‘gig economy’ uses digital platforms to bypass many of the regular responsibilities and costs of employment. Ambiguity as to whether gig-economy workers are independent contractors, dependent contractors or employees allows the undermining of traditional labour standards governing minimum wages and other legislated employment conditions. Labour law and institutions need to catch up to the new reality of this form of work and develop new tools to protect and enhance minimum standards for workers in digital platform businesses. Unions, business and government all have a role to play in the long term. Meanwhile, direct engagement between these new firms and workers’ advocates can also help to mitigate the risks posed to labour standards by digital business models, by addressing regulatory gaps. This article is a case study of innovative negotiations between one platform business (Airtasker) and Unions New South Wales, a peak trade unions body in New South Wales, Australia, in order to establish agreed minimum standards for engagements negotiated through this platform.

Keywords

J82J83J88Digital platform work‘gig’ economyindependent contractorsindustrial relationslabour standards‘sharing economy’
Type
Symposium Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 28 , Issue 3: Work in the Gig Economy: Issues and Challenges , September 2017 , pp. 438 - 454
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Airtasker (2016a) Airtasker insurance. Available at: http://www.airtasker.com/insurance/ (accessed 9 July 2016).Google Scholar
Airtasker (2016b) Home page. Available at: http://www.airtasker.com/how-it-works/ (accessed 10 July 2017).Google Scholar
Airtasker (2016c) What should I do if things don’t go according to plan? Airtasker Support. Available at: https://support.airtasker.com/hc/en-us/articles/216689887-What-should-I-do-if-things-don-t-go-to-plan- (accessed 9 July 2016).Google Scholar
Airtasker (2017a) Airtasker pro. Available at: https://www.airtasker.com/pro/ (accessed 10 July 2017).Google Scholar
Airtasker (2017b) Task price guide. Available at: https://www.airtasker.com/price-guide/ (accessed 10 July 2017).Google Scholar
Airtasker (2017c) Terms and conditions. Available at: https://www.airtasker.com/terms/ (accessed 10 July 2017).Google Scholar
Allen, D, Berg, C (2014) The sharing economy: how over-regulation could destroy an economic revolution The Institute of Public Affairs. Available at: https://westerncivilisation.ipa.org.au/publications/2312/the-sharing-economy-how-over-regulation-could-destroy-an-economic-revolution (accessed 10 July 2017).Google Scholar
Barnes, A, Balnave, N (2015) Back to grass roots: peak union councils and community campaigning. Economic and Labour Relations Review 26(4): 577–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benbasat, I, Goldstein, DK, Mead, M (1987) The case research strategy in studies of information systems. MIS Quarterly 11(3): 369–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briggs, C (2004) Different roads to power: a comparative study of National Unions Federations. In: Ellem, B, Markey, R, Shields, J (eds) Peak Unions in Australia: Origins, Purpose, Power, Agency. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Federation Press, pp. 9–31.Google Scholar
Campbell, I, Peeters, M (2008) Low pay, compressed schedules and high work intensity: a study of contract cleaners in Australia. Australian Journal of Labour Economics 11(1): 27–46.Google Scholar
Coyle, D (2017) Precarious and productive work in the digital economy. National Institute Economic Review 240(1): R5–R14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Stefano, V (2016) The rise of the ‘just-in-time workforce’: on-demand work, crowd work and labour protection in the ‘gig-economy’. Conditions of work and employment series no 71. Geneva: International Labour Organization. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/travail/whatwedo/publications/WCMS_443267/lang–en/index.htm (accessed 10 July 2017).Google Scholar
Deloitte Access Economics (2015) Review of the Collaborative Economy. Sydney, NSW, Australia: NSW Government. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/review-collaborative-economy-nsw.html (accessed 10 July 2017).Google Scholar
Ellem, B, Shields, J (2004) Beyond the ‘will to unity’: theorising peak union organisation and agency. In: Ellem, B, Markey, R, Shields, J (eds) Peak Unions in Australia: Origins, Purpose, Power, Agency. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Federation Press, pp. 32–53.Google Scholar
Evered, R, Louis, MR (2001) Alternative perspectives in the organizational sciences: ‘inquiry from the inside’ and ‘inquiry from the outside’. The Academy of Management Review 6(3): 385–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fair Work Act (2009) (Cwth) Federal register of legislation. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00144 (accessed 12 July 2017).Google Scholar
Fair Work Ombudsman (2011) Sham contracting and the misclassification of workers in the cleaning services, hair and beauty and call centre industries. Available at: http://apirnet.ilo.org/resources/sham-contracting-and-the-misclassification-of-workers-in-the-cleaning-services-hair-and-beauty-and-call-centre-industries (accessed 12 July 2017).Google Scholar
Fair Work Ombudsman (2017) Pay calculator. Available at: https://calculate.fairwork.gov.au/findyouraward (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Fung, T (2016) Airtasker hits 500,000 members. Airtasker Blog 500000. Available at: http://blog.airtasker.com/news/airtasker-hits-500000-members (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Fung, T (2017) Evidence to inquiry into corporate avoidance of the Fair Work Act. Senate Education and Employment References Committee, 18 April. Available at: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;db=COMMITTEES;id=committees%2Fcommsen%2F4623c4ec-e5b7-45b4-8f17-b59865a95336%2F0001;orderBy=customrank;page=0;query=Dataset%3AcomSen,estimate;rec=5;resCount=Default (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Goodwin, M, Maconachie, G (2011) Minimum labour standards enforcement in Australia: caught in the crossfire? The Economic and Labour Relations Review 22(2): 55–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunasekara, C (2011) Independent contracting in low skilled, low paid work in Australia. International Journal of Employment Studies 19(1): 50–69.Google Scholar
Hardy, T (2011) Enrolling non-state actors to improve compliance with minimum employment standards. The Economic and Labour Relations Review 22(3): 117–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, M (2001) The place of self and reflexivity in third sector scholarship: an exploration. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 30(4): 747–760.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holley, S (2014) The monitoring and enforcement of labour standards when services are contracted out. Journal of Industrial Relations 56(5): 672–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hong, E (2015) Making it work: a closer look at the gig economy. Pacific Standard, 24 October. Available at: https://psmag.com/making-it-work-a-closer-look-at-the-gig-economy-413b92d1aa62 (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Hook, L (2015) Year in a word: gig economy. Financial Times, 30 December. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/b5a2b122-a41b-11e5-8218-6b8ff73aae15 (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Iacono, J, Brown, A, Holtham, C (2009) Research methods–a case example of participant observation. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods 7(1): 39–46.Google Scholar
Kaine, S (2017) All care and no responsibility: why Airtasker can’t guarantee a minimum wage. The Conversation, 3 May. Available at: https://theconversation.com/all-care-and-no-responsibility-why-airtasker-cant-guarantee-a-minimum-wage-76943 (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Kaine, S, Josserand, E (2016) Workers are taking on more risk in the gig economy. The Conversation, 6 July. Available at: https://theconversation.com/workers-are-taking-on-more-risk-in-the-gig-economy-61797 (accessed 10 July 2017).Google Scholar
Katz, LF, Krueger, AB (2016) The rise and nature of alternative work arrangements in the United States, 1995–2015. National Bureau of Economic Research, NBER working paper no. 22667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, V (2010) Protection of independent contractors under WorkChoices and the Fair Work Act: improvement or continuity? Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, Working paper no. 2, June. Available at: http://apo.org.au/node/22011 (accessed 14 May 2017).Google Scholar
Kollewe, J (2017) New Uber blow as European legal adviser says service should be licensed like taxis. The Guardian, 12 May. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/11/uber-cabs-taxis-us-app-ecj (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Markey, R (1994) In Case of Oppression: The Life and Times of the Labor Council of New South Wales. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Minifie, J (2016) Peer-to-peer pressure: policy for the sharing economy. Report no. 2016-7. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Grattan Institute. Available at: https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/871-Peer-to-peer-pressure.pdf Google Scholar
Osborne, H (2016) Uber loses right to classify UK drivers as self-employed. The Guardian, 29 October. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/28/uber-uk-tribunal-self-employed-status (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Patty, A (2017) Airtasker and unions make landmark agreement to improve pay rates and conditions. Sydney Morning Herald, 1 May. Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/airtasker-and-unions-make-landmark-agreement-to-improve-pay-rates-and-conditions-20170427-gvtvpo.html (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Prassl, J, Risak, M (2016) Uber, taskrabbit, and Co.: platforms as employers? Rethinking the legal analysis of crowdwork. Journal of Comparative Labor Law and Policy 37(3): 653–690.Google Scholar
Prassl, J, Risak, M (2017) The legal protection of crowdworkers: four avenues for workers’ rights in the virtual realm. In: Meil, P, Kirov, V (eds) Policy Implications of Virtual Work. Cham: Springer, pp. 273–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Productivity Commission (2016) Digital Disruption: What Do Governments Need to Do? Canberra, ACT, Australia: Government of Australia. Available at: http://www.pc.gov.au/research/completed/digital-disruption (accessed 10 July 2017).Google Scholar
Rawling, M (2015) Regulating precarious work in Australia: a preliminary assessment. Alternative Law Journal 40(40): 252–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J, Spencer, L (2002) Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research. In: Huberman, M, Miles, MB (eds) The Qualitative Researcher’s Companion. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 305–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roles, C, Stewart, A (2012) The reach of labour regulation: tackling sham contracting. Australian Journal of Labor Law 25(3): 258–282.Google Scholar
Stewart, A, Stanford, J (2017) Regulating work in the gig economy: what are the options? The Economic and Labour Relations Review 28(3): 420–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, A, Forsyth, A, Irving, M, et al . (2016) Creighton & Stewart’s Labour Law. Annandale, VA: Federation Press.Google Scholar
Sundararajan, A (2016) The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-based Capitalism. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Torpay, E, Hogan, A (2016).Working in a gig economy. Career Outlook. US Department of Labor, May. Available at: https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2016/article/what-is-the-gig-economy.htm (accessed 14 May 2017).Google Scholar
Toscano, N (2016) Delivery services Foodora and Deliveroo face claims of exploitation, underpayment. Sydney Morning Herald, 29 July. Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/delivery-services-foodora-and-deliveroo-face-claims-of-exploitation-underpayment-20160728-gqfgwz.html (accessed 12 May 2017).Google Scholar
Unions NSW (2016) Innovation or exploitation: busting the Airtasker myth. Available at: http://www.unionsnsw.org.au/busting_the_airtasker_myth_unions_nsw_report (accessed 11 July 2017).Google Scholar
Unions NSW (n.d.) About Unions NSW. Available at: http://www.unionsnsw.org.au/about (accessed 12 July 2017).Google Scholar
Work Health and Safety Act (Cwth) (2011) Federal register of legislation. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00887 (accessed 12 July 2017).Google Scholar
Yin, RK (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.Google Scholar