Matteo Rizzo (SOAS), “Messy grounds. Reflections on power and ride-hailing work from fieldwork in 3 African cities”

The rise of digital platforms as good or bad news for employment has resulted in polarised debates. Enthusiasts celebrate the employment creation and growth potential of digital platforms, suggesting that employment through digital technology is a major and flexible new route out of poverty and into the global economy for marginalised workers. Critics, however, question the scope for development that digital work allows, emphasising the increasing informalisation of employment, and the harsh working conditions and meagre returns imposed on unprotected and algorithm-controlled workers.

This lecture explores the multifaceted power dimensions and stratifications underpinning a) the relationship between apps and drivers, and b) research on ride-hail work. The lecture draws on fieldwork on the political economy of digital ride hail platforms and their impact on work, employment and public transport in three African cities: Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg. A survey was answered by a total of 300 drivers (100 drivers per city) and interviews and focus groups with workers were held in the three cities).

The lecture unpacks to what extent and how do Uber and other ride hail apps exert control over partners/workers. Different dimensions of control are explored. First, I will discuss the apps’ ideological control over work and its consequences, exploring how the platform projects the idea that its drivers are independent partners, not workers, and whether/how drivers internalise this framing. Second, the analysis focusses on the algorithmic management of work. Third, the paper discussed non-algorithmic strategies of management by the apps. A fourth focus of the talk is the discussion of the employment relations that predominate in the sector (are ride-hail drivers self-employed own-account workers or drivers operating the car of someone else? Are they drivers in the process of purchasing their own car with finance or driver who already own their car?). The paper will show that answering this question, neglected by much of the growing literature on ride hail apps in Africa, is of central important to begin to understand patterns of workforce internal stratification, how ride-hail employment works and for whom. Lastly, the lecture explores the power dimensions and ethical dilemmas surrounding research on digital work, and how these were navigated.