Collective strategies of resistance to the precarious labour conditions in the digital platform economy: the case of Riders x Derechos

This chapter presents the case of Riders x Derechos (hereafter RxD), a Spanish self-organization collective created in 2017 by home delivery workers to denounce the precarious working conditions on the big delivery platforms and lobby for the regularization of their fraudulent status as 'false self-employed'. The movement has two complementary lines of action: not only does it promote collective action to fight for the labour rights of digital platform couriers, but it also promotes an alternative business model, organized by the couriers themselves in the form of non-profit cooperatives, guaranteeing couriers' decent work. We conclude that while focusing its fight on the uberization of the labour market, RxD has managed to introduce the debate on precariousness and lack of regulation in the digital economy in the Spanish public opinion. Moreover, its lobby actions have contributed to placing the debate on the political agenda resulting in the enactment of the recently passed Riders' Law.