In an earlier post, I described a new initiative that we recently started: The Fairwork Foundation. The goal of the Foundation is to certify key standards in the platform economy. By setting those standards, and certifying platforms against them, we hope to try to work against a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions. Workers avoid unfair contracts, and platforms and consumers will be able to avoid acting unethically.
To get this right, we’ll need to make sure that we understand what fair work actually means in the gig economy. In other words, what are the standards we want to certify against?
Next month, we’ll be hosting meetings at UNCTAD and the ILO in which we bring together platforms, trade unions, policy makers, and academics in order to discuss how to define fair work in the platform economy. But, we’d also like your help. If you have any opinions on standards that we should be thinking about, or ways in which we should be implementing them, we’d love to hear from you. We’ve created this form for you to submit your ideas: bit.ly/FairworkForm
We look forward to your thoughts, and please do pass along the link to anyone else who you think might have something to add.
To read more about our plans, we’ve put together this short article:
Graham, M. and Woodcock, J. 2018. Towards a Fairer Platform Economy: Introducing the Fairwork Foundation. Alternate Routes. 29. 242-253.
This project maps and measures the geographies of information on the Internet.
This project aims to understand the contextual, contractual and practical nature of platform work, to identify its shortfall from decent work standards and to contribute to the development of its governance and regulation.
The Fairwork Foundation will certify online labour platforms, using leverage from workers, consumers, and platforms to improve the welfare and job quality of digital workers.
