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Platform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: Evidence from Berlin and London

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Adam Badger

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

For migrant workers who do not have access to other means of income, the platform economy offers a viable yet exploitative alternative to the conventional labour market. Migrant workers are used as a source of cheap labour by platforms – and yet, they are not disempowered. They are at the heart of a growing platform worker movement. Across different international contexts, migrants have played a key role in leading strikes and other forms of collective action. This article traces the struggles of migrant platform workers in Berlin and London to explore how working conditions, work experiences, and strategies for collective action are shaped at the intersection of multiple precarities along lines of employment and migration status. Combining data collected through research by the Fairwork project with participant observation and ethnography, the article argues that migrant workers are more than an exploitable resource: they are harbingers of change.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Alyanak O, Cant C, Lopez T, Badger A, Graham M

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: The Economic and Labour Relations Review

Year: 2023

Volume: 34

Issue: 4

Pages: 667-688

Print publication date: 01/12/2023

Online publication date: 21/11/2023

Acceptance date: 07/07/2023

Date deposited: 29/10/2025

ISSN (print): 1035-3046

ISSN (electronic): 1838-2673

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/elr.2023.34

DOI: 10.1017/elr.2023.34

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