Can Worker-Owned Apps Fix the Gig Economy?

Despite being retired, I've so far resisted the temptaion to sign up with one of the gig economy apps. I'm not desperate enough yet to need to earn slave labour wages for my work. That might change down the road, though I hope not.

From what I've read, the gig economy seems to be a hot bed of exploitation. So what's the solution? Could it be co-ops? That's what this article suggests.

Professor Trebor Scholz of the New School estimates that there are currently 400 projects under the platform cooperativism banner. A recent conference he helped organize in New York City brought together 150 speakers from 30 different countries.

Their shared goal is to create “concrete alternatives” for workers “who are not protected, and actually assaulted by deteriorating labour rights that were hardly there in the first place,” said Scholz.

Oriol Alfambra and Nuria Soto, two former Deliveroo food couriers from Barcelona, attended the conference to share Mensakas, a worker-owned delivery app. Alfambra and Soto started Mensakas in 2018 with other couriers who were fired during a union organizing campaign. They launched their app with the support of a crowd-funding campaign and government grant.

Co-ops have been around for a long time in other fields. There are housing co-ops in Toronto, farming co-ops, and credit unions. I hope to see this movement take off in the gig economy.