Algorithms and ratings: tools to manage labour relations. Proposals to renegotiate labour conditions for platform drivers

Abstract

Workers of digital platforms are managed by algorithms and then rated by customers about their work. The aim of the paper is thus to describe how technological innovation is used to manage and control digital workers, and to present to collective actors some proposals in order to negotiate algorithms and technological innovation with the purpose of improving drivers’ working conditions. In particular, the paper analyses Uber case-study and the technology employed: geo-localisation techniques for smartphones and GPS, as well as algorithms. The paper is structured in two parts. After a brief analysis of legal cases, in the first part, it describes which technologies are (or could be) employed by the company to estimate the geographic position of users, to match supply and demand and to control drivers in the fulfilment of their working activity. In particular, it goes in depth into some technical issues and parameters used to manage working conditions. In a second part, by adopting the results of the technical analysis as the starting point, it presents some proposals on how collective bargaining can intervene in the management of those kinds of technology to improve drivers’ working conditions.

Keywords

• new-economy
• employment relations
• management of new types of technology
• algorithm and ratings
• social protection