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Paper short abstract:

The objective of this study was to investigate the causes and impacts of child labour in the informal weaving sector. Poverty, family breakdown, and migration are the primary causes. Child labour has negative effects on children's health, physical, psycho-social development, and education.

Paper long abstract:

Child labour is a prevalent and growing issue in today's world, particularly in developing countries. Ethiopia is one such country where child labour is widespread. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes and impacts of child labour in the informal weaving sector in the Shiro-Meda area of Addis Ababa. A qualitative research approach was used to gather relevant data exhaustively, including semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and observation.

The findings of the study revealed that poverty, family breakdown, and peer influence are the primary factors that drive children to enter the weaving sector. Child trafficking and migration were also identified as contributing factors. The study further found that child labour has negative effects on children's health, physical well-being, psycho-social development, and education.

The study recommends that addressing the widespread poverty of families is the primary solution to reducing child labour. Education and awareness-raising efforts should be directed towards parents, employers, and the community at large to help them find solutions to their socio-economic problems. By doing so, the prevalence of child labour can be reduced in the weaving sector and other industries in Ethiopia.

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Paper short abstract:

My findings uncover intriguing insights into digital nomads' unique motivations, challenges, and experiences. Their experiences highlight the contrasts in a rapidly transforming India, where young people strive to adjust to the gig economy.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the Gig Economy in Delhi, concentrating on the community of digital nomads and their experiences with digital platforms. It is essential to comprehend how these nomads encounter precarity and are categorized as Independent Contractors rather than receiving workers' entitlements. In India, a developing country with a significant youth demographic seeking employment, individuals are increasingly drawn to this emerging sector, which, while appearing attractive from the outside, poses considerable challenges to survival.

The study primarily employs a qualitative methodology rooted in ethnographic research design. It adopts an Interpretive Approach to explore the existence of multiple realities and how individual experiences contribute to the formation of these realities. The research investigates the lived experiences of digital nomads, who are identified as gig workers or Independent Contractors/Freelancers. It scrutinizes how digital platforms create misleading perceptions of flexibility, suggesting that workers can set their schedules. Furthermore, the study explores the motivations, daily routines, challenges, socio-economic backgrounds, and work dynamics within the urban landscape.

It uncovers that the notions of “Flexibility” and “Autonomy” promoted by digital platforms do not ensure a stable salary for gig workers; compensation is contingent upon task completion. It highlights that these workers often engage with multiple platforms but risk account deactivation if they do not fulfill assigned tasks within specified deadlines. Additionally, their performance is judged based on customer ratings, leading to a perception of inconsideration from both Digital Platform Aggregators and customers. The findings underscore the country's need to prioritize gig workers' physical and mental well-being.

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Paper short abstract:

Study digital platform workers in organized and unorganized sector. Are welfare gains of workers on platforms in unorganized sector (services) greater than for those engaged on platforms in organized (education)? We hypothesize that welfare effects for workers will be greater in unorganized sector.

Paper long abstract:

According to a NITI Aayog study, around 7.7 million workers participated in the gig economy in 2020-21, projected to grow to 23.5 million by 2029-30. Welfare gains for digital platform workers can be analyzed through economic, sociological, psychological, and geographical perspectives. In economics, welfare refers to resource allocation and economic policies. Sociology emphasizes social structures and relationships, while psychology considers individual motivations and behavior. Geography highlights the spatial aspects and the importance of location in community well-being.

We propose an interdisciplinary framework that incorporates these aspects to evaluate the welfare gains of digital platform workers. Companies engage platform workers to improve resource allocation and demand-supply matching. Workers in digital platforms may face precarious conditions but can benefit from social networks and psychological motivations like agency and empowerment. We focus on two cities to emphasize spatial considerations.

Our research question investigates whether welfare gains for platform workers in the unorganized sector are greater than those in the organized sector. We hypothesize that unorganized sector workers will experience more significant changes in welfare compared to organized sector workers.

We conduct a survey of digital platform workers (along with smaller sample of non-platform workers) using a structured questionnaire to gather information on various welfare dimensions—economic, social, motivation, and agency—in both sectors. We plan to use descriptive statistics to understand welfare gains through various lens and estimate a difference-in-difference equation to analyze whether platform workers in previously unorganized or organized sectors fare better in terms of earnings and indicators of agency or empowerment.

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Paper short abstract:

Digital platforms have transformed gig work in India, altering employment patterns and demographics while enhancing the economy. In this workshop, I aim to provide a thorough understanding of the evolving gig economy and its implications for India's workforce and overall economic landscape.

Paper long abstract:

Technology has significantly changed the organization of work and employment relationships, leading to developments that would have seemed unimaginable just a decade ago. The rise of digital platforms has not only created new types of work but also transformed how workers discover job opportunities. Digital platforms have significantly transformed work in India, positioning the country as a key player in the gig economy. Platforms like Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, and Freelancer offer flexible employment models, connecting independent workers to various tasks in sectors such as transportation, food delivery, e-commerce, and freelance services. While gig work offers benefits like flexible hours and improved work-life balance, it also presents challenges. Workers face job insecurity, lack of social protections, and exclusion from labor rights, as platforms often classify them as independent contractors.

Additionally, the labor market is becoming polarized. Urban workers may access higher-paying gigs, while rural and lower-skilled workers often earn less and work under precarious conditions. The Indian government is working on regulations to balance flexibility and worker rights, including social security schemes and formal recognition of gig workers.

In summary, this study highlights the role of various digital platforms that provide a path to gig workers and how they contribute to the economy of the country. By understanding the role of digital platforms in shaping gig work, this study contributes to the broader discourse on the future of work and the evolving nature of labor in the digital age.

Keywords: Gig workers, Economy, Digital Platforms, Employment, India , Online Labor Market.

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Paper short abstract:

The paper brings a feminist lens to understanding the effects of the platform economy on women workers, using the case of domestic workers in India. It explores effects on access to decent (platformised) work, worker-employer relationships, and collective bargaining.

Paper long abstract:

Women workers in India’s informal economy have been significantly impacted by the recent digitalisation of the economy, altering how they access markets, obtain information, communicate, and organise collectively. Digital platforms are reshaping the process of collectivisation, influencing who participates, how they engage, and the outcomes of such efforts.

While emerging research on the platform economy primarily examines gig-based work, such as delivery and cab-hailing services, the platformisation of feminised domestic work remains under-explored. Consequently, women’s experiences of the digital economy are largely absent from current discourse. This paper seeks to address this gap by examining women domestic workers’ access to digital platforms, with a focus on the digital gender divide. It further investigates how platforms are reshaping workers’ experiences of domestic work—both in terms of income and broader working conditions—as well as their identity and legitimacy as workers.

This comparative study analyses two groups of domestic workers: those affiliated with cooperatives or unions and those who remain unaffiliated. By comparing these groups, the paper explores how collectivisation and social dialogue have been transformed within the platform economy, particularly for women workers.

Grounded in qualitative research methods, this paper applies a Fraserian framework to examine how digital platforms operationalise the ideals of social justice for domestic workers. Specifically, it focuses on the dimensions of redistribution and recognition, offering critical insights into the pathways for informal women workers to achieving social justice, in the new platform economy in India.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines platform workers in India. It analyzes the existing regulatory framework in India and draws from legal developments across the world to propose strategies for improving conditions of work in the platform economy in India while supporting business innovation.

Paper long abstract:

The proliferation of non-standard work arrangements is a common global theme including, in India. The swift expansion of the gig economy in India, the world's most populous country, has created new opportunities for employment but also poses significant regulatory challenges. This paper critically examines India’s legal landscape within which the platform economy operates, particularly focusing on issues like worker classification, algorithmic management, social protection, unfair dismissal among others.

Using a qualitative approach, the paper draws on the legal developments and experiences, exploring how other countries have approached the regulation of gig work. It analyzes the different legal responses to platform work across the global north and south, identifying successful strategies and areas where India’s legal framework may require adaptation or reform.

The study highlights the precarity of gig work, especially in India’s largely informal labor market, and the limited protections available to workers. It also evaluates the role of labor unions, cooperatives, and collective bargaining efforts in improving the conditions of platform workers. By drawing on case studies and legal models, the paper suggests potential reforms to enhance worker protections while fostering the growth of the gig economy.

This paper contributes by providing valuable insights seeking to balance the opportunities of the gig economy with necessary legal protections for workers in India.

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Paper short abstract:

Local contexts influence the functioning of digital platforms, which in turn adapt to these contexts. In India, we see this evolution and adaptation in two ways: 1)market creation through new products and offerings and 2) emergence of re-intermediation that adds informality to platform ecosystem.

Paper long abstract:

Digital platforms redefine labour relations by transforming how labour is hired, organized, and performed (Rani & Fuhrer, 2020). A defining feature of platforms is the ability of its algorithms to efficiently and instantly connect prospective customers with service providers, based on a set of pre-determined variables. However, in economies with a prominent informal sector such as India, there is a sizeable presence of heterogenous work organisation systems within the platform economy, leading to its divergence from the established on-demand model. These systems mediate various aspects of work allocation, spatio-temporal aspects, platform management, levels of reintermediation, and labour control (CIS,2021).

Drawing on empirical research on gig workers in Mumbai, this paper explores how platforms adapt to the complexities of informal economies. With focus on the ride-hailing and home-based service sectors, the paper analyses how context specific offerings have catalysed the creation of new markets, intermediation and diverse livelihood structures within the platform economy.

This evolution disrupts the traditional role of platform as the sole intermediary between the worker and the gig. Instead there is re-intermediation facilitated by platform infrastructure. Consequently, the relationship between the workers and platform becomes indirect, and their experiences are increasingly shaped by the roles and influence of these intermediaries, adding complexity and informality to the platform-mediated labour ecosystem.

Given this scenario, this paper is guided by the following research question: How did the informal nature of Indian markets influence the adaptation of digital platforms and what new layers of intermediation and livelihood structures emerge as a result?

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Paper short abstract:

Drawing from political ecology and critical animal studies, this paper explores human-animal labour, justice and agency in precarious industrial workplaces. Focussing on India's brick kilns, it examines how humans and animals navigate life in sites of extreme poverty, oppression and marginalisation.

Paper long abstract:

There are thought to be over 100 million working equids globally, the vast majority of which are in the Global South. Today, working equids provide a critical labour service to industries all over the world, from tourism to tech, to landfill and mining – and yet, their contributions are consistently overlooked in policy and practice (Kubasiewicz et al., 2023). This paper focusses on the brick kiln industry, in which an estimated 20 million people are working in debt-bondage, producing 700-800 million bricks per year. India’s brick kilns represent sites of extreme poverty, oppression and marginalisation. Communities are often low status (caste) and transitory, bonded (by debt) to informal and unregulated kiln work (Watson et al., 2020; Narayanan, 2024). Drawing on recent investigations, this paper offers a view of brick kilns as spaces of ‘shared work’ and ‘shared suffering’ for humans and animals. It aims to expand the fields of political ecology, urban theory and critical animal studies, contributing to ideas of human-animal labour, justice and agency in precarious industrial workplaces.

Kubasiewicz et al. (2023) Bonded labour and donkey ownership in the brick kilns of India: Need for reform of policy and practice. Animal Welfare, 32:e8:1–11.

Narayanan, Y. (2024) Animal suffering in global development and antipoverty praxis: Enforced animal labor in the peripheral capitalism of Indian brick kilns. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 114(9):2068–2084.

Watson et al. (2020) Cultural ‘blind spots’, social influence and the welfare of working donkeys in brick kilns in Northern India. Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the successful unionization drive in Ethiopia's apparel export industry, despite initial resistance from firms and the government. Using surveys, interviews, and theoretical frameworks on labor regimes and worker power, it explains how stakeholder opposition was overcome.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper we analyse the factors that led to the recent unionisation drive in Ethiopia’s apparel export industry. Ethiopia has successfully attracted foreign firms supplying apparel buyers in the US and the EU into a series of new industrial parks. These supplier firms came to Ethiopia seeking lower labour costs and easier access to US markets. Global buyers, the lead firms of the apparel sector, typically push supplier firms to accept a combination of low margins and demanding delivery schedules, in turn incentivising supplier firms to suppress wage growth and limit workers’ collective representation. Resistance to unionisation in supplier firms is common in the sector and was initially supported by the Ethiopian government, which limited union access to industrial parks. The Ethiopian apparel export sector has nonetheless witnessed a remarkably successful unionisation drive and most firms in the country’s industrial parks now have factory-level unions.

Drawing on theoretical approaches to labour regimes and sources of workers’ power (Wright, 2000; Silver, 2003; Burawoy, 1985; Schmalz, Ludwig & Webster, 2018), mobilisation theory (Kelly, 1998), and recent extensions of value chain theory (Marslev, Staritz & Raj-Reicherts, 2022) we develop a new analytical framework to explain how the resistance of key stakeholders to unionisation was overcome. Empirically, we draw on two matched firm and worker surveys of over 1,000 workers in apparel firms conducted in 2018 and 2023, key informant interviews with company managers, government officials, UN officials, and trade union leaders, as well as semi-structured interviews with trade unionists at factory level.

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Paper short abstract:

A plea for public policy intervention, alongside private action is attempted to design social protection systems to meet the changing contexts and demands of new forms of flexi-work; especially of women workers by revisiting new labour codes in the Global South with a focus on emerging India.

Paper long abstract:

We will critique the provisions for the Gig & Platform Workers introduced in the Code on Social Security 2020 in India. Other aspects that need to address several issues at stake like vulnerability, provision of social security, and decent work, especially of women workers will be captured through our fieldwork and analysis. The general discussions will revolve around the growth and prospects of the gig economy, gig jobs, and emerging gig workers; especially women.

In fine, the International Labour Organisation’s Kenya Mission of 1972 that defined the informal sector by Keith Hart is still persistent in different avatars and is unlikely to fade away in the future as shown by our study in the metropolis of Mumbai.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to uncover the latent hierarchies and hostilities that workers endure on the roads while engaging in the labour process of platform mediated gig work. It advances the understanding on the role that roads play in generating Value for the platform.

Paper long abstract:

Meteoric rise gig economy has resulted in the formation of novel urbanscapes around the world. A sea of literature has emerged on documenting the working conditions of gig workers and labour process of gig economy. However, a little has been explored about the relationships gig workers share with their workplace, i.e. The Road itself. Probing this can clarify the novel dynamics which are at play in the gig workplace and how they depart from the way workplaces are understood in traditional sociology and anthropology of work.

For data collection author enrolled as a gig worker in a popular food delivery platform in New Delhi (India) to uncover otherwise opaque aspects of the labour process. Multisited ethnographic methods were utilised to document the mobile and fluid realities of the emerging gig economy. It required the author to move from different sites of analysis which included – roads, delivery locations and the restaurants to understand the distinct function each one of them serve in the labour process of the platform. These ethnographic insights were also informed and refined by 67 in-depth interviews and accompanying gig workers to their delivery locations to bring forth their perspective.

Paper uncovers the narratives of hostilities, hierarchy and solidarity which are experienced and cultivated while delivering orders. Thus, understanding how roads function as class construct for ever increasing gig workforce in Delhi. Paper also analysis role of roads as a means of production in generating surplus value in the labour process of platform mediated gig work.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the precarious nature of platform-based work in Pakistan, highlighting the systemic exploitation of workers, especially in the absence of legal safeguards. It emphasises the need for reforms based on the principles of 'decent work' to ensure workers' rights and protections.

Paper long abstract:

The rapid expansion of the platform economy globally has brought both opportunities and significant challenges for workers. In Pakistan, platforms like Careem, Foodpanda, and Upwork have introduced flexible work but at the cost of precarious conditions, exploitation, and a lack of social protections. This paper investigates these issues, focusing on the ways platform companies exploit workers by classifying them as independent contractors, thereby avoiding responsibilities like fair wages, social benefits, and job security. The research draws on theories of platform capitalism (Srnicek, 2017), surveillance capitalism (Zuboff, 2019), and algorithmic control (Schor et al., 2020) to explore the structural inequalities within Pakistan’s digital labor landscape.

The study also sheds light on the gendered dimensions of platform work, showing how women and marginalized groups face heightened barriers and are often relegated to lower-paying, insecure jobs. Gender biases, coupled with patriarchal norms, reduce women's earning potential and their participation in the gig economy. However, gender is one aspect of a broader issue, where all workers are affected by the absence of regulatory safeguards. The lack of a robust legal infrastructure, exemplified by the ineffective Platform Workers Protection Bill (2023), leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation.

This paper calls for comprehensive reforms in Pakistan’s labor laws, advocating for policies that prioritize fair wages, social protections, and workers' rights to collective bargaining. By aligning with ILO’s ‘decent work’ principles, it aims to address the growing gap between the promises and realities of platform work in developing countries.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the political discourse of gig work in India, focusing on how political parties, the state, the judiciary, and trade unions shape it. It argues, neoliberal policies encourage informalisation, and limit labour rights. This aligns broadly with the panel’s emphasis on decent work.

Paper long abstract:

In recent decades, algorithmic management (machine learning) and online mediated gigs have significantly transformed the nature of work and employment. In India, 7.7 million people are engaged in the gig economy, which is estimated to reach 23.5 million by 2029-30. Gig Work is defined, regulated, and perceived differently by the political parties, the state, the judiciary, and trade unions. While gig work is well understood from a sociological and economic perspective, there is a need to understand it politically. By encompassing Samuel P. Huntington’s discourse analysis framework, this paper examines the political discourse surrounding Gig Work in India. This article answers some key questions: What is the political discourse of Gig Work? How do political parties, state, judiciary, and trade unions shape the political discourse of Gig Work? This paper argues that political parties and the state align with the neo-liberal regime of informalising Gig Work and providing citizen-centric benefits instead of workers’ entitlements. The interest of the Judiciary in labour issues is limited, and judicial activism that has characterised other domains is conspicuously absent in protecting labour rights, particularly gig workers. While trade unions have adopted a narrow approach of demanding social security from the state instead of a rising fundamental structural question of precarity, that is, recognising as ‘worker’.

Keywords: gig work, political discourse, political party, state, jurisdiction, trade union

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Paper short abstract:

I would like to discuss on gig work as a solution to the rising unemployment in Kenya. Gig work enabled by technology is a very relevant solution to the challenge of unemployment that youth in Kenya are facing. With a difficulty in accessing traditional forms of work, it proves a relevant solution.

Paper long abstract:

The gig economy is a market system that is characterized by temporary short contracts done by independent workers. It came from the word ‘gig’ that meant a defined performance by musicians and artists. In the same breadth, it means a job that lasts for specific period of time. With technology, gig work is borderless and done remotely and/ or facilitated though digital platforms. With the rising unemployment, borderless gig work presents a unique niche which can be utilized to overcome this very challenge. With the major cause of unemployment in Kenya being a lack of sufficient job creation, there is a need for an expanded labour market where labour demand is high. However, with the significant youth bulge and joblessness growth, labour supply exceeds demand. This has driven the young people into crime and poverty.

Under such challenges, the gig economy presents a unique and new opportunity which can be pursued by the unemployed to earn a living. In addition, with less obligations on the part of employers as well, they are as preferring it. Traditional jobs having a multiplicity of obligations on both the employer and the employee. Borderless gig work presents a unique opportunity for both to achieve their goals with independent short term workers demand being on the rise.

My paper will delve into borderless gig work as a solution to unemployment moving forward.