Скачать или смотреть THINK Gig Economy, Logistics, Health and Wellbeing seminar

This THINK (Transport and Health Integrated Research Network) seminar explores the practices of gig delivery work and the impact of the gig economy and platforms to the health and wellbeing of gig delivery workers and the public. We will be joined by Nicola Christie, Professor of Transport Safety (University College London) and Dr Cosmin Popan, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow (Manchester Metropolitan University).

Delivering hot food on motorcycle: risks associated with the gig economy

Prof. Nicola Christie

Food delivery has surged in popularity in the UK, with many takeaway services using motorcyclists or cyclists, both of whom are amongst the most vulnerable road users. Motorbike riders account for 20% of UK road deaths and are 50 times more likely than car occupants to die in a road collision and people who work on motorcycles have a much greater risk of injury compared to other motorcyclists. Nicola presents findings from interviews with, and surveys completed by, gig riders and riders employed by restaurants. She discusses whether the business model under which riders work influences their experience of risk or whether this is just related to the risks of delivering food by motorbike per se.

The fragile ‘art’ of multi-apping. Resilience and snapping in the gig economy

Dr Cosmin Popan

Doing food deliveries while working on multiple platforms at the same time is a common phenomenon amongst couriers, to the point that it has its own moniker: multi-apping. Workers extol the opportunity to earn better money, and also the skills needed to do so. Platforms are turning a blind eye since it allows them to argue in court that riders are self-employed. This entrepreneurial mindset has nevertheless drawbacks for couriers whose accounts can be deactivated if they are late or if clients report them. Understood as resilience against unpaid labour, multi-apping represents, in fact, work intensification. As platforms ‘sub-contract’ the risks and costs resulting from inefficiency in time use, it becomes the couriers’ responsibility to remove unpaid time through multi-apping. Rather than representing a form of resistance or subversion, multi-apping is not only the inevitable result of work intensification. In a vicious circle, it brings about more work intensification.

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