From April 12 to 14, 2023. Iveta Kesane took part in the International Labor Process Conference in Glasgow along with academic from various disciplines – anthropology, sociology, business management, political science, law and others. The focus of the conference was the changes in work, labour and employment, including the changes associated with development of gig economy. Iveta presented interim results of our research project in a presentation titled “A Paradox of Autonomy in Experience of Food Delivery Couriers in Riga”.
Here is the abstract of her presentation:
Two narratives about gig-work dominate in the literature. The platform owners, governments, city officials and international organizations emphasize flexibility and freedom of gig-work in eagerness to lower unemployment and increase economic growth (e.g. Rosenblat & Stark 2016; Shabata, 2020). While many critical accounts of the gig-economy points to precarity of gig-work (MacDonald & Giazitzogly 2019; Barratt et al 2020), isolation and alienation of workers (Glavin et al 2021), and their exploitation using misclassification of employees as independent contractors, regime shopping, and targeting of the most vulnerable groups of society, such as immigrants (Zwick 2017). Some emphasize that gig economy feeds on neoliberal ideology that frames and renders workers responsible for their own precarity (MacDonald & Giazitzogly 2019; Zwick 2017) and disguises such labor relations under euphemisms of “flexibility”, “workers autonomy” and “freedom” (Zwick 2017; Shabata 2020). Building on interviews with food delivery gig-workers in Riga, Latvia, we argue that in the Latvian neoliberal context food delivery workers indeed experience gig-work as providing sense of autonomy. We call it “narrative autonomy” since their feelings and perceptions of autonomy emerges out of their experience and meaning making processes. Although they admit the low pay platforms offer, for many it is still better bargain than other alternatives. They favor platforms because of a possibility to oversee and control their income, freedom and flexibility of their working hours, and feeling of emotional independence. This “narrative autonomy”, at least partly, explains the reluctance of gig-workers to go on strike and to demand better working conditions.