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The labour law includes the legal regulation between employees and employers. However, new forms of work have been developed the last decade, as perform work through a digital platform. Considerable of modern working life with new forms of labour organisations, do not fit in the labour law. Platform work is based in temporary assignments instead of determined working hours. This results in a flexible work form, but with less stability and regularity. This can engender a lack of rights and social security and an increased uncertainty regarding their work situation.   The purpose of this study is to illustrate the phenomenon platform work from a labour law perspective. To fulfil this purpose and answer the research questions it has been relevant to investigate legal material to interpret, systemise and determine applicable law. The study has placed great emphasises on practice and doctrine.   The result of this study shows that it is complex to applicate the labour law on platform workers and it is difficult to determine if they should be identified as workers in a legal sense. Platform work still brings several questions about how such a labour organisation stands in the labour market. In some respects the relation between the platform and the platform workers is equivalent to the relation between an employer and an employee, and in some respect’s relationships differ. More legal sources on the subject may be required to understand the relationship between platform work and the employer and employee concept.

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Bedeutung und Auswirkungen von Plattformarbeit in Westeuropa und Nordamerika. Dafür werden die Zusammenhänge zwischen drei Ebenen untersucht: Erstens die Gestaltung des Arbeitsmodells als Mesoebene, zweitens bestehende Arbeitsmarktentwicklungen und nationale Regulierungskontexte als Makroebene, sowie drittens das Leben und Erleben des Arbeitsmodells von Plattformarbeiter*innen als Mikroebene. Die empirische Untersuchung konzentriert sich auf Crowdwork als ortsunabhängige Form von Plattformarbeit. Zudem wird eine Triangulation von qualitativen und quantitativen Forschungsmethoden sowie eine komparative Perspektive zwischen unterschiedlichen Aufgabenkomplexitäten (Mikro- und Makroaufgaben) und institutionellen Kontexten (Deutschland und USA) genutzt. Die Mehrebenenuntersuchung zeigt, dass Plattformarbeit auf der Mesoebene eine arbeitsorganisatorische Innovation darstellt, die auf der Makro- und Mikroebene an bestehende Entwicklungen anknüpft. Auf der Mesoebene zeigen sich vielfältigere und komplexere Ansätze der Arbeitsorganisation und Arbeitskontrolle als häufig angenommen. Auf der Makroebene knüpft Plattformarbeit an bestehende Prozesse der Auslagerung, Flexibilisierung und Prekarisierung von Arbeit, wobei der nationale Regulierungskontext weiterhin prägend ist. Auf der Mikroebene zeigt sich, dass die Heterogenität der Plattformarbeiter*innen und das hohe Maß an Eigenverantwortung ihre Individualisierung befördert. Die vorliegende Arbeit schlussfolgert, dass eine Plattformisierung der Arbeitswelt keineswegs gegeben ist. Die Bedeutung von Plattformarbeit wird insbesondere darin verortet, dass es die weitere Ausbreitung und Ausdifferenzierung von prekären Erwerbsformen auf der Makroebene und die Individualisierung von prekär Erwerbstätigen auf der Mikroebene befördert. Die vorliegende Arbeit verortet in dieser Vielfalt an Prekarität und Individualisierung der Prekären eine Form von Herrschaft. / This study examines the importance and consequences of platform work in Western Europe and North America. To this end, the connections between three levels are examined: First, the design of the work model as the meso level, second, existing labour market developments and national regulatory contexts as the macro level, and third, the forms of use and perceptions of platform workers as the micro level. The empirical investigation focuses on crowdwork as a location-independent form of platform work. Furthermore, the study uses a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as a comparative perspective between different task complexities (micro and macro tasks) and institutional contexts (Germany and USA). The multi-level investigation shows that platform work represents an innovation at the meso level that reflects and reinforces existing developments at the macro and micro levels. At the meso level, more diverse and complex approaches to work organization and control emerge than is often assumed. At the macro level, platform work reflects and reinforces processes of outsourcing, flexibilization and precarisation of work, though the national regulatory context remains a central factor. At the micro level, the heterogeneity of platform worker and the high degree of personal responsibility promotes their individualization. The study concludes that a platformisation of work is far from certain. The study attributes the importance of platform work to the fact that it promotes the further spread and differentiation of precarious employment at the macro level and the individualization of precarious workers at the micro level. The study identifies this variety of precarity and individualization of the precarious as a form of domination.

Bakgrund och problem Gigekonomin är ett framväxande fenomen på arbetsmarknaden. Arbetet inom matbudsbranschen organiseras genom digitala plattformar och buden anses ofta vara egenföretagare. Den svenska modellen har utvecklats genom åren på så vis att arbetsmarknaden ska regleras via förhandlingar mellan fackförbund och arbetsgivarorganisationer. I den svenska lagstiftningen är det inte tydligt vem som ska klassas som arbetsgivare utan det bedöms via faktiska sakförhållanden och tidigare praxis. De som sysselsätter sig med enklare gigarbete är främst migranter vilket tenderar att utöka denna problematik, framför allt genom deras okunskap om svensk arbetsmarknad. Det finns en risk för att gigarbetare och traditionella arbetare kommer att ställas mot varandra. Idag hotar ett eventuellt EU-direktiv gällande plattformsarbete den svenska modellen då lagstiftning inskränker partssamarbetet. Syfte och metod Syftet med studien var att öka förståelsen för gigekonomin i förhållande till den svenska modellen. För att öka denna förståelse valdes en kvalitativ metod där 15 semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med olika parter i den svenska modellen. Respondenterna var arbetare inom gigekonomin och informanterna representerade ett fackförbund och en arbetsgivarorganisation. Resultat och slutsats Studien konkluderar att den svenska modellen utmanas av gigekonomin. Det är av yttersta vikt att arbetsgivarbegreppet reds ut i förhållande till gigekonomin eftersom det är avgörande för hur partssamarbetet ska fortlöpa. Gigarbetarnas medvetenhet om hur svensk arbetsmarknad är tänkt att fungera är likaså viktigt. Ett EU-direktiv kan komma att påverka den svenska modellen genom tvingande lagar som i vissa fall kan gå emot praxis. / Background and problem The gig economy is an emerging phenomenon in the labor market. The work in the food delivery industry is organized through digital platforms and the couriers are often considered to be self-empolyed. The Swedish model has developed over the years in such a way that the labor market is to be regulated through negotiations between trade unions and employers’ organizations. In Swedish legislation, it is not clear who is to be classified as an employer, it is assessed via actual facts and previous practice. Those who engage in simpler gig work are mainly migrants, which tends to expand this problem, primarily through their lack of knowledge of the Swedish labor market. There is a risk that gig workers and traditional workers will be pitted against each other. Today, a potential EU directive regarding platform work threatens the Swedish model as legislation restricts party cooperation. Purpose and method The purpose of the study was to increase the understanding of the gig economy in relation to the Swedish model. To increase this understanding, a qualitative method was chosen where 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with different parties in the Swedish model. The respondents were workers in the gig economy and the informants represented a trade union and an employers’ organization. Results and conclusion The study concludes that the Swedish model is being challenged by the gig economy. It is of the utmost importance that the employer concept is sorted out in relation to the gig economy, as it is decisive for how the party cooperation is to proceed. The gig workers' awareness of how the Swedish labor market is intended to function is also important. An EU directive may affect the Swedish model through mandatory laws that in some cases may go against practice.

The topic of gig-work has been widely debated in the western world for its laborrights and work environment issues. Whereas companies operating within thegig-economy boast the freedom and flexibility of gig-work as perks for workers,unions highlight the precarious nature and poor working conditions of gig-workas exploitative of workers and push for unionizing gig-workers and getting themcovered by collective bargaining agreements. However, due to the novelty of thephenomenon, not much scholarly work has been done on the subject and its longterm implications for the labor markets of developed capitalist countries.In Sweden, conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic led to an influx ofworkers in the food-delivery sector due to increased demands for services andhigh unemployment as gig-work was regarded as a means to sustain one’slivelihood during a time of economic uncertainty. As these food-delivery couriershad to work outside the home, where the chance of contracting the virus was high,while also having jobs where they were not regarded as employees, the aim ofthis thesis project was to investigate how the Covid-19 pandemic has affectedfood-delivery couriers’ perceived exposure to psychosocial stressors and risksthrough a qualitative interview study. The findings were generated throughinductive reasoning from analyzing conducted six interviews and discussedthrough the lens of the Human, Technology and Organization (HTO)-model andthe Job-Demands-Control-Support (JDCS)-model. / Gig-arbete har diskuterats i stor utsträckning i västvärlden för dess arbetsmiljöoch rättighetsrelaterade problem. Medan företag som verkar inom gig-ekonominframhäver flexibilitet och frihet av gig-arbete som förmåner för arbetare, menarfackföreningar att de prekära och osäkra arbetsförhållandena gällande gig-arbeteär exploaterande gentemot arbetare och vill därmed se dem organiserade ifackföreningar och täckta av kollektivtal. På grund av att området är nytt, så harinte mycket vetenskaplig forskning skett i detta ämne och dess långsiktigakonsekvenser på de utvecklade kapitalistiska ländernas arbetsmarknader.I Sverige ledde förhållandena orsakade av Covid-19-pandemin till entillströmning av arbetare i matleveranssektorn på grund av ökad efterfrågan frånkunder och hög arbetslöshet eftersom gig-arbete betraktades som ett sätt attupprätthålla sitt levebröd under en tid av ekonomisk osäkerhet. Dåmatleveranskurirerna var tvungna att arbeta utanför hemmet, där chansen att fåviruset var hög, samtidigt som de hade jobb där de inte betraktades som anställda,var syftet med detta examensarbete att undersöka hur Covid-19-pandemin hadepåverkat matleveranskurirernas upplevda exponering för psykosociala stress- ochriskfaktorer genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie. Resultaten genererades genominduktivt resonemang från analyser av sex genomförda intervjuer som sedandiskuterades utifrån Människa, Teknologi, Organisation (MTO)-modellen samtJob-Demands-Control-Support (JDCS)-modellen.

Ce mémoire s’intéresse à l’expérience de travail des livreur·euse·s de plateformes de la gig-économie, au prisme de la question de l’autonomie. Il apparaît hautement paradoxal que les plateformes numériques, tout en célébrant cette valeur émancipatrice qu’est l’autonomie, sapent simultanément toutes ses chances de réalisation effective par les travailleur·euse·s, en multipliant les sources, directes ou indirectes, de contrôle. Devant ce paradoxe, nous interrogeons la réception par les travailleur·euse·s du discours sur l’autonomie tenu par les plateformes numériques et tentons de déceler leur interprétation personnelle de l’autonomie, afin de comprendre les conditions sous lesquelles une autonomie au travail peut être exercée. En adoptant une conception large de l’autonomie, il s’agit également d’intégrer les niveaux individuel et collectif afin de tisser des fils entre rapport au travail et action collective dans le cadre d’une réflexion sur les ressorts de la mobilisation. À partir d’un corpus de 16 entretiens menés avec des livreurs de plateforme à Montréal, nous développons une analyse qui tente de faire la part entre les aspirations et les pratiques concrètes d’autonomie, tant à l’échelle individuelle qu’à l’échelle collective, en mettant l’accent sur les obstacles à leur réalisation. Au terme de cette analyse, nous mettons en évidence le fait que l’autonomie apparaît comme un enjeu des rapports sociaux de production, qui se trouve dans une tension constante avec son opposé dialectique, à savoir le contrôle. Ce qui se dessine alors apparaît bel et bien comme une « zone grise d’autonomie ». / This dissertation focuses on the work experience of platform-based delivery workers through the lens of autonomy. It appears highly paradoxical that digital platforms, while celebrating the emancipatory value of autonomy, simultaneously undermine all its chances of effective realization by workers, by multiplying direct or indirect sources of control. To address this paradox, we question workers’ reception of the discourse on autonomy held by digital platforms and attempt to identify their personal interpretation of autonomy, in order to understand the conditions under which autonomy at work can be exercised. By adopting a broad conception of autonomy, we integrate the individual and collective scales in order to weave threads between the relationship to work and collective action as part of a reflection on the dynamics of mobilization. Based on a corpus of 16 interviews conducted with platform delivery workers in Montreal, we are developing an analysis that attempts to distinguish between aspirations and concrete practices of autonomy, both at the individual and collective levels, by focusing on the obstacles to their realization. At the end of this analysis, we highlight the fact that autonomy appears to be an issue in the social relations of production, which is in constant tension with its dialectical opposite, namely, control. What then emerges appears to be a "grey zone of autonomy".

Ce mémoire porte sur la qualité du travail dans l’économie de plateformes. Nous nous intéressons plus particulièrement au transport rémunéré de personnes par automobile, un secteur qui fut fortement bouleversé par l’arrivée massive des plateformes numériques au cours des dernières années. Nous souhaitons comprendre en quoi et par quels moyens les plateformes numériques, bien qu’elles témoignent de nouvelles possibilités de contrôle sur les travailleurs, constituent aussi de nouveaux espaces de pratiques émergentes d’émancipation. À travers ce rapport dialectique, nous porterons une attention toute particulière à l’autonomie, une notion qui nous apparaît transversale pour appréhender la qualité du travail dans cet univers hautement digitalisé. Comment et dans quelle mesure l’autonomie apparente associée au travail de plateforme confère-t-elle aux travailleurs les moyens d’améliorer la qualité de leur travail et de s’émanciper? À l’inverse, cette autonomie apparente dissimule-t-elle de nouvelles modalités de contrôle et d’assujettissement ? Afin d’explorer ces questions, nous avons choisi d’explorer deux plateformes concurrentes : la populaire plateforme Uber, multinationale et figure de proue de cette nouvelle économie, et la plateforme Eva, une alternative coopérative dite « socialement responsable » et québécoise. Des entretiens semi-dirigés avec des chauffeurs travaillant sur l’une ou l’autre des plateformes, ou simultanément avec chacune d’entre elles, permettent une compréhension nuancée de l’expérience des travailleurs et des logiques autonomes et hétéronomes qui traversent celle-ci. La recherche interroge finalement le concept de zone grise d’emploi, récemment mobilisé dans la littérature sur l’économie de plateformes. Nous souhaitons mettre en relief comment les zones grises dans lesquelles sont plongés les travailleurs de plateformes participent à nourrir ces rapports dialectiques d’autonomie/contrôle et d’émancipation/assujettissement. Autrement dit, nous souhaitons voir si ces travailleurs sont en mesure de s’approprier ces zones grises d’emploi de manière à initier des expérimentations émancipatrices, en tension avec l’investissement hétéronome de ce même espace par les employeurs. / This thesis focuses on the quality of work in the platform economy. We are particularly interested in the remunerated passenger transportation by automobile, a sector that has been greatly disrupted by the massive arrival of digital platforms in recent years. We wish to understand how and in what ways digital platforms, although they demonstrate new possibilities of control over workers, also constitute new spaces of emerging emancipatory practices. Through this dialectical relationship, we will pay particular attention to autonomy, a notion that appears to us to be transversal to the understanding of the quality of work in this highly digitalized universe. How and to what extent does the apparent autonomy associated with platform work give workers the means to improve the quality of their work and empower themselves? Conversely, does this apparent autonomy conceal new modalities of control and subjugation? In order to explore these questions, we chose to explore two competing platforms: Uber, a multinational and figurehead of this new economy, and Eva, a local cooperative alternative known as “socially responsible”. Semi-directed interviews with drivers working on either platform, or simultaneously with both, allow for a nuanced understanding of the workers' experience and the autonomous and heteronomous logic that cross it. Finally, the research questions the concept of the grey zone of employment, recently mobilized in the literature on the platform economy. We wish to highlight how the grey zones in which platform workers are immersed contribute to nourishing these dialectical relationships of autonomy/control and emancipation/subjugation. In other words, we want to see if these workers are able to appropriate these grey areas of employment in order to initiate emancipatory experiments, in tension with the heteronomous investment of this same space by employers.