There are now over seven million digital ‘platform workers’ that live all over the world, doing work that is outsourced via platforms or apps in the “gig economy”. Lacking the ability to collectively bargain, platform workers have little ability to negotiate wages and working conditions with their employers who are often on the other side of the world. This project undertakes innovative research that focuses on these workers, their experiences, labour processes, and the organisation of their work. The platform economy is rapidly expanding, particularly in developing and emerging economies. With this, the future of work is becoming the present and there is an urgent need to engage with its consequences. Contemporary researchers, as well as existing political and regulative frameworks, lack the appropriate methods and conceptual approaches to make sense of the phenomena.
The main objective of the project is to set up a long-term structure to form a ‘Fairwork Foundation’ that will be committed to highlighting best and worst practices in the emerging platform economy. Selected stakeholders, including governments, platform operators, unions and donors will be consulted to engage in a dialogue to establish the Foundation. Much like the Fairtrade Foundation has been able to certify the production chains of commodities like coffee and chocolate, the Fairwork Foundation will certify the production networks of the platform economy. This seeks to harness ‘consumer power’, along with leverage from workers and platforms, to significantly contribute to the welfare and job quality of digital workers.
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With Dr Funda Ustek-Spilda, and Srujana Katta
In this webinar, Funda Ustek-Spilda and Srujana Katta will talk about the Fairwork Project, an action-research project at the Oxford Internet Institute.
28 April 2023
For the third year, researchers based at the Oxford Internet Institute, part of the University of Oxford, highlight the best and worst companies in the UK platform economy according to how they treat their workers.
8 June 2022
New Oxford report reveals best and worst practices in UK gig economy.
8 March 2022
The theme of International Women’s Day 2022 is #BreakTheBias. We're marking the day by highlighting the work of our brilliant and innovative women academics, researchers, and students, here at the OII.
3 February 2022
Professor Mark Graham and Dr Mohammad Amir Anwar, publish their new book, “The Digital Continent: Placing Africa in Planetary Networks of Work”, that examines the job quality implications of digital work for the lives of African workers.
Wired, 08 May 2023
Women working for platforms routinely face harassment and abuse—for considerably lower pay.
Forbes, 11 April 2023
Feature article on Alexandr Wang, the world's youngest self-made billionaire at 24 by supplying artificial intelligence companies with large-scale human labour. The article cites previous research from the Oxford Internet Institute.
New Statesman, 15 February 2023
Academics have warned MPs that the use of connected tech in the workplace needs to be better regulated.
Drawing on the five OECD principles for responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI, this project proposes developing a set of accountability mechanisms to ensure AI systems foster fairer working conditions.
The Fairwork project aims to ameliorate working conditions by closely engaging with and supporting platforms to improve their policies. This project aims to implement the established methodology and approach of Fairwork in Ghana.
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.
