From control to mobilization. The struggles of the riders and logistics porters in Italy

• Main Authors: Lorenzo Cini, Bartek Goldmann
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bologna 2020-07-01
• Series: Labour & Law Issues
• Online Access: https://labourlaw.unibo.it/article/view/11258

Following years of declining labour activism, militant forms of worker mobilization have recently emerged in the Italian platform economy and logistics sector, exhibiting novel forms of organisation and action repertoires. This paper investigates two cases which have been ongoing since 2011, namely mobilizations by logistics porters and food delivery couriers. Both cases seem puzzling since workers have mobilized under circumstances normally associated with non-mobilization, meaning a workplace characterized by technological innovation and by absent or ineffective traditional labour unions. Why and how have these mobilizations occurred? We argue that these workers successfully overcame such circumstances by relying on resources and opportunities related to their workplace and external to it, which they have been able to create and develop over several years. We gathered data from semi-structured interviews with workers, union representatives, lawyers, managers and participated at political meetings, strikes, and protest events in four Italian cities between 2018 and 2019.