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Trade Unions and Platform Workers in the UK: Worker Representation in the Shadow of the Law

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  • Alessio Bertolini
  • Ruth Dukes

Abstract

Drawing on a series of interviews with key actors including representatives of the main trade unions, this paper considers the response of unions in the UK to the emergence and growth of platform work. Comparing the partly different strategies adopted by traditional and alternative unions in respect of the representation of platform workers’ interests, it demonstrates that the unions’ choices have been shaped by the characteristics and resources of the unions themselves, by prevailing political conditions and, perhaps above all, by the restrictive legal framework that excludes many platform workers from the scope of employment legislation. Without recourse to either a legally protected freedom to take industrial action or the statutory recognition procedure, unions have only exceptionally been able to negotiate collective agreements on behalf of platform workers. Instead, traditional unions have focussed on broader political strategies to fight precariousness, including wielding an influence on policymaking, especially through their relations with the Labour Party. Alternative unions have channelled resources into organising and mobilising platform workers and supporting them in campaigning, protesting and bringing strategic litigation.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessio Bertolini & Ruth Dukes, 2021. "Trade Unions and Platform Workers in the UK: Worker Representation in the Shadow of the Law," Industrial Law Journal, Industrial Law Society, vol. 50(4), pages 662-688.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:indlaw:v:50:y:2021:i:4:p:662-688.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/indlaw/dwab022
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    Cited by:

    1. James Duggan & Michelle O’Sullivan & Maeve O’Sullivan, 2023. "Essential or excluded? Union pressures and state responses to platform work in three liberal market economies," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(4), pages 491-505, November.
    2. David Etherington & Bob Jeffery & Peter Thomas & Martin Jones & Ben Ledger‐Jessop, 2023. "Trade union strategies to tackle labour market insecurity: Geography and the role of Sheffield TUC," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 261-277, May.

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