The projet « Establishing worker representation and social dialogue in the platform and app economy » has been launched in March 2019. 

Jointly led by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the Sharers&Workers network (led by IRES and ASTREES), the project aims to identify, and support initiatives aimed at collectively organising and representing the interests of workers in digital labour platforms.

The objectives of the call

This call seeks to identify emerging and collective initiatives to better organise and defend the interests of digital platform workers, in order to provide them with the support needed for their development.

• Contacts

Applications must be sent simultaneously to all the members of the Steering Committee of the project, these being:

 – Odile Chagny (IRES / Sharers&Workers) : odile.Chagny@ires.fr

– Ignacio Doreste (ETUC) : idoreste@etuc.org

– Wolfgang Kowalsky (ETUC): WKOWALSK@etuc.org

– Christophe Teissier (ASTREES / Sharers&Workers) : c.teissier@astrees.org

The call is available in pdf  here : AMI COACHING V_EN

The initiatives sought

Initiatives to protect workers on digital platforms 

We largely seek initiatives that target:

• workers who provide a service via a digital platform, whether it is cloud work or on-demand work which is physically localized (deliveries, transport, etc.)
• from all sectors of activity: any type of work activity is of the interest to our project (transport, delivery, household services, micro-tasking /crowdwork, creative work, etc)
• regardless of the country of origin of the digital platforms.

Different types of possible initiatives

Without being exhaustive, the initiatives covered by this call may aim to:

• Strengthening the voice of workers, including:
• trade union strategies (at national and/or transnational level) dedicated to workers on digital platforms
• development of digital tools, applications, or websites to better organize platform workers
• any other field experience seeking to organize platform workers.

 

• Extending workers’ rights and protections through the negotiation of agreements and/or the establishment of structures for collective representation
•  Initiating and developing new forms of cooperation, for example

Building coalitions of different stakeholders (local or regional authorities, consumers, etc.)

All relevant initiatives from European Union or candidate countries are welcome!

The coaching proposed

10 different initiatives can be supported as part of our project

The selected initiatives will benefit from the following:

• A European collective coaching session of one and a half days (two sessions will be organised in total, each session for 5 selected initiatives)

The group coaching session will allow participants to:

– Presenting and sharing the initiatives gathered during the session (mutual learning)

– Collectively assessing the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of each of the initiatives

– Building action plans identifying, for each of the initiatives, the obstacles and levers as well as the needs for the development of each of the initiatives

– Providing expertise and knowledge on the following subjects: workers’ organisation, the establishment of a dialogue with platforms, the establishment of works councils, and collective bargaining

– Identifying additional support needs

 

Each group coaching session will bring together:

– The leaders of the 5 initiatives

– The project coordinators

– Different stakeholders and experts of the labour platforms, facilitators of social relations, who have already led initiatives in the field of representation, collective action and organizing, associated with the project within the framework of the « European Observatory on Digital Platforms ».

Depending on the type of initiatives selected, other expertise may be made available. 

• Individualized follow-up after the coaching session

This second phase of support will make it possible to support the leaders of the initiatives to initiate the implementation of the scenarios identified during the collective sessions: action orienting towards relevant actors and/or funding, providing an answer to technical issues identified during the coaching sessions, maintaining contact among the leaders, etc.

Submission of expressions of interest and follow-up process for applications

• Procedure

1. The promoters of initiatives falling within the scope above-mentioned are invited to contact by e-mail, no later than 13 January 2020, the Steering Committee of the project (contact details below) in order to:

• Express their wish to benefit from the proposed support
• Send a brief descriptive note of their initiative (a maximum of one page explaining the objectives pursued, the people involved and the objectives of the initiative)

2. The Steering Committee of the project will analyse the responses received and will select the 10 initiatives considered most likely to benefit from the proposed support.
3. After examining the applications received, the steering committee will get in contact very soon with the leaders of the selected initiatives to organize the planned support in concrete terms.

 

• Contacts

Applications must be sent simultaneously to all the members of the Steering Committee of the project, these being:

 – Odile Chagny (IRES / Sharers&Workers) : odile.Chagny@ires.fr

– Ignacio Doreste (ETUC) : idoreste@etuc.org

– Wolfgang Kowalsky (ETUC): WKOWALSK@etuc.org

– Christophe Teissier (ASTREES / Sharers&Workers) : c.teissier@astrees.org