The lose-lose dilemmas of Barcelona’s platform delivery workers in the age of COVID-19
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: The abrupt lockdown experienced by a big part of the world population due to the COVID-19 pandemic has bestowed upon home delivery services an unexpected importance. Officially considered amongst “essential services”, their workers circulate freely while most people are advised (when not forced) to stay in their homes. The present paper explores how this context helps to shed light on the precarious situation of the majority of the platform delivery workers (PDW). This is done through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and digital ethnography of the interactions within a WhatsApp group. The main finding is that the COVID-19 context deepened the precarization of the PDW confronting them with four dilemmas from which there is no way out. Highlights • The COVID-19 deeply increased the precarity levels of platform delivery workers.• Precarious workers often find themselves facing immensely hazardous dilemmas.• Rented accounts among platform delivery workers is an under-studied phenomenon.
SUBMITTER: Vieira T
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7502030 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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