Riding together? Why app-mediated food delivery couriers join trade unions in Austria

Leonard Geyer, Kurt Vandaele and Nicolas Prinz
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Leonard Geyer: European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna, Austria
Kurt Vandaele: European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Brussels, Belgium
Nicolas Prinz: European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna, Austria

Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2024, vol. 45, issue 3, 835-858

Abstract: A burgeoning literature has analysed how and why platform workers express their (collective) voice. While this ‘willingness to act’ of platform workers is evidenced across several countries, there is little research on their ‘willingness to pay’, however. Are platform workers willing to become dues paying union members? Exploiting novel survey data from Austria, this article addresses this gap by analysing the propensity of app-mediated food delivery couriers to join trade unions. Similarly to traditional industries, the findings demonstrate that the decision to join a union is driven by instrumental and value-rational motivations. Compared to employed couriers, those on ‘free-service provider contracts’, i.e. freelancers, are less likely to unionise, however. Also, short expected job tenure and limited personal contacts hinder unionisation in app-mediated food delivery. Yet unions are not without tools: they can significantly improve relationships between them and the couriers by supporting grassroots activists.

Keywords: Gig economy; platform work; trade unions; union membership; worker representation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:45:y:2024:i:3:p:835-858

DOI: 10.1177/0143831X231195151

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