Work via app - New dependencies in the gig economy

In the context of ongoing digitalisation, platform economies develop particularly dynamically. This includes the gig economy, which organises specific work tasks through an app. In the gig economy new working conditions are being negotiated in real time, which poses a significant challenge for regulating institutions. This article illustrates these changes by presenting the findings from a study of food delivery carriers. It highlights the regulating and controlling function of the app, whose algorithm calculates the most convenient matching of drivers, restaurants and consumers. The app increases the distance between workers and employers, thus further limiting the ways in which drivers can access their employers. This restricts the possibilities of individual or collective negotiation of working conditions. Drivers do however develop local practices of withdrawal from constant control through the app, for example, by establishing independent forms of communication or by campaigning for workers’ councils. © 2021, Deutscher Verband für Angewandte Geographie (DVAG).