The Elgar Companion to Regulating Platform Work
Insights from the Food Delivery Sector
Published on 18. March 2025
Book
Hardback
314 pages
978-1-0353-2113-1 (ISBN)
Description
Multidisciplinary in scope, The Elgar Companion to Regulating Platform Work comprehensively analyses the dynamics and trends of the app-based food delivery sector in the platform economy. Adopting a comparative approach, it examines the regulatory developments in the field at EU level and beyond.
Bringing together a diverse array of leading experts, this Companion goes beyond exploring pure labour issues, delving into the societal dynamics at play in the sector. The various actors in app-based food delivery are identified and key themes such as the mobilisation of food delivery couriers, their issues and grievances, and their working conditions are discussed. Regulatory reforms including the Platform Work Directive 2024 and the outcomes of courier mobilisation are explored in addition to alternatives to corporate platforms.
The Elgar Companion to Regulating Platform Work is a fundamental resource for academics and students of sociology and social policy, labour policy and economics and employment relations law. Practitioners, policymakers, trade unionists and labour advocates will also find the book's practical implications to be of great benefit.
Bringing together a diverse array of leading experts, this Companion goes beyond exploring pure labour issues, delving into the societal dynamics at play in the sector. The various actors in app-based food delivery are identified and key themes such as the mobilisation of food delivery couriers, their issues and grievances, and their working conditions are discussed. Regulatory reforms including the Platform Work Directive 2024 and the outcomes of courier mobilisation are explored in addition to alternatives to corporate platforms.
The Elgar Companion to Regulating Platform Work is a fundamental resource for academics and students of sociology and social policy, labour policy and economics and employment relations law. Practitioners, policymakers, trade unionists and labour advocates will also find the book's practical implications to be of great benefit.
Reviews / Votes
'This groundbreaking volume provides a timely, insightful, and multidisciplinary exploration of the platform economy's impact on food delivery workers in Europe and beyond. Integrating perspectives from economics, sociology, law, and industrial relations, it combines rigorous empirical analysis with nuanced qualitative research to examine the power dynamics between platforms and workers, the role of algorithmic management, and emerging forms of worker resistance. With a keen eye on the implications of the EU Platform Work Directive, the authors explore the complex interplay of regulation, technology, and labor rights. This comprehensive volume is an essential read for policymakers, researchers, and advocates seeking to understand and shape a more just and equitable future of work.' -- Uma Rani, International Labour Organization, Switzerland 'Bringing together leading voices, this Companion offers a critical and forward-looking analysis of how to regulate the industry's impact on work and workers. With insightful case studies and expert analysis, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of work and the gig economy.' -- Mark Graham, University of Oxford, UKMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0353-2113-1 (9781035321131)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Kurt Vandaele, Senior Researcher and Silvia Rainone, Senior Researcher, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Brussels, Belgium
Content
Contents
1 Regulating platform work: insights from the food delivery sector in Europe
and beyond 1
Kurt Vandaele and Silvia Rainone
PART I ACTORS 21
2 Shaping space and being shaped by it: analysing the socio-spatial dialectic
of food delivery platforms 22
Heiner Heiland
3 Icarus in a coma: mapping food delivery platform companies in Europe 37
Kurt Vandaele
4 E pluribus union(s)? Assessing the diversity of organisation among food
delivery couriers across Europe 59
Vincenzo Maccarrone, Lorenzo Cini, Joerg Nowak and Arianna Tassinari
5 The changing composition of app-based food delivery couriers and the
consequences for collectivism 76
Cosmin Popan and Kristin Jesnes
PART II MOBILISATION AND ISSUES 95
6 Patterns of labour unrest among app-based food delivery workers in
Europe: the surprising persistence of industrial relations regimes 96
Mark Stuart, Vera Trappmann, Denis Neumann, Simon Joyce, Ioulia
Bessa and Charles Umney
7 Assessing the quality of food delivery platform work: towards a conceptual
framework for job quality in the platform economy 114
Agnieszka Piasna and Wouter Zwysen
8 The problem of unpaid labour in food delivery platforms in Europe:
understanding the role of socio-technical and employment contract effects 133
Valeria Pulignano and Damian Grimshaw
PART III OUTCOMES AND REGULATION 149
9 Platforms, wages and individual bargaining power: assessing labour
market competition among Swedish couriers 150
Carl Fredrik Soederqvist
10 Judicial creativity in the platform economy: normative insights for
broadening the scope of labour law 169
Silvia Rainone and Christina Hiessl
11 Regulating platform work in the European Union: initiatives, challenges
and the ways ahead 188
Despoina Georgiou
PART IV CLOSING THOUGHTS: BEYOND EUROPE AND FOOD DELIVERY 205
12 Challenges in advocating recognition and protection among delivery
platform workers across the Americas: cases from Argentina, Chile,
Mexico and the US 206
Maria Figueroa and Maria Eugenia Rodriguez
13 Avenues for social empowerment: the cooperative model for app-based
food delivery and beyond 232
Denise Kasparian
14 The spillover effect of algorithmic management and how (not) to tame it 251
Nastazja Potocka-Sionek and Antonio Aloisi
15 The limits of fissurisation in platform work: the case of food delivery
services 270
Anke Hassel
1 Regulating platform work: insights from the food delivery sector in Europe
and beyond 1
Kurt Vandaele and Silvia Rainone
PART I ACTORS 21
2 Shaping space and being shaped by it: analysing the socio-spatial dialectic
of food delivery platforms 22
Heiner Heiland
3 Icarus in a coma: mapping food delivery platform companies in Europe 37
Kurt Vandaele
4 E pluribus union(s)? Assessing the diversity of organisation among food
delivery couriers across Europe 59
Vincenzo Maccarrone, Lorenzo Cini, Joerg Nowak and Arianna Tassinari
5 The changing composition of app-based food delivery couriers and the
consequences for collectivism 76
Cosmin Popan and Kristin Jesnes
PART II MOBILISATION AND ISSUES 95
6 Patterns of labour unrest among app-based food delivery workers in
Europe: the surprising persistence of industrial relations regimes 96
Mark Stuart, Vera Trappmann, Denis Neumann, Simon Joyce, Ioulia
Bessa and Charles Umney
7 Assessing the quality of food delivery platform work: towards a conceptual
framework for job quality in the platform economy 114
Agnieszka Piasna and Wouter Zwysen
8 The problem of unpaid labour in food delivery platforms in Europe:
understanding the role of socio-technical and employment contract effects 133
Valeria Pulignano and Damian Grimshaw
PART III OUTCOMES AND REGULATION 149
9 Platforms, wages and individual bargaining power: assessing labour
market competition among Swedish couriers 150
Carl Fredrik Soederqvist
10 Judicial creativity in the platform economy: normative insights for
broadening the scope of labour law 169
Silvia Rainone and Christina Hiessl
11 Regulating platform work in the European Union: initiatives, challenges
and the ways ahead 188
Despoina Georgiou
PART IV CLOSING THOUGHTS: BEYOND EUROPE AND FOOD DELIVERY 205
12 Challenges in advocating recognition and protection among delivery
platform workers across the Americas: cases from Argentina, Chile,
Mexico and the US 206
Maria Figueroa and Maria Eugenia Rodriguez
13 Avenues for social empowerment: the cooperative model for app-based
food delivery and beyond 232
Denise Kasparian
14 The spillover effect of algorithmic management and how (not) to tame it 251
Nastazja Potocka-Sionek and Antonio Aloisi
15 The limits of fissurisation in platform work: the case of food delivery
services 270
Anke Hassel