With 4.7 million British currently estimated as working on a per-job basis across a variety of online work platforms, trade unions and experts in the field agreed to discuss with Planet Labor the consequences for the trade unions of this new and snowballing way of working. 60% of gig workers are aged between 16 and 34 and will they look to the union to defend their position thereby driving new life into trade unions? Or will they instead turn their backs on this method of collective defense that some are calling too archaic?
One this is certain and that is task-oriented working – put forward by the likes of Uber and Deliveroo inter alia, has repositioned trade union action back to center-stage. For when gig economy workers find themselves at the law courts demanding and more often than not succeeding recognition of their employee status (c.f. article No. 10442) it will certainly have been alongside support from the trade unions. Proof therefore that certain independent workers don’t hesitate to become a trade union
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