Trade unions across the globe find themselves in an unprecedented predicament, thanks to the changing forms of labour and business ownership — especially in some fast-emerging sectors. Sample this message trending on social media: Uber, the world’s largest taxi firm, owns no cars; the world’s biggest and the most popular media and content distributor Facebook creates zip content; Alibaba, the world’s most valuable retailer has no inventory; while accommodations leader, Airbnb, owns no real estate.

This should get trade unions to sit up and think. The so-called sharing economy and online marketplaces have precariously decentralised ownership patterns and created amoebic pay norms. Many drivers own the vehicles they drive for Uber; the pay in most cases is directly linked to real-time user feedback, which in most cases does not favour the worker. When the user gives a lower rating to a service availed, that shaves off a slice of the pay the worker receives.

Such a volatile system allows for abuse of labour rights and minimises room for collective bargaining. When, in theory, you own a slice of the business and become a de facto promoter, whom exactly will you strike against? At Uber, if a driver constantly receives poor customer feedback, he will be ‘deactivated’ (read fired). Representing such workers will not be easy for trade unions.

And their confusion is only helping companies get away by flouting working norms. There are many lessons in this for India’s trade unions. The app economy is here to stay. Dealing with workers’ rights in tech-driven workspaces calls for a deep understanding of technology and how it plays out in relation to labour. It’s time trade unions adapted, by acquiring the right skills and intellectual software to negotiate a changing world.

Assistant Editor

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