The gig economy and social partnership in Germany: towards a German Model 4.0?

This chapter explores how German policymakers and social partners tackle the gig economy's challenges to worker's protection and social dialogue. How does the coordinated German Model cope with the disruptive force of the gig economy? While most platform-based businesses are reluctant to join any form of firm or sector level coordination, trade unions and increasingly also policymakers engage in fostering worker's protection against "exploitation 4.0". One important reference in the debate is the idea of regulated capitalism. Empirically, the chapter shows based on extensive interview material that, taken together, the gig economy's impact on the German Model is limited by existing institutions and regulations. Nevertheless, debates about reforming, inter alia, social partnership, trade unionism, concepts of employer/employee, and labor law are gaining traction. Thus, interview partners confirm what has been described in the literature as an ongoing transformation of the coordinated German Model.