Resistance,accommodation,or assimilation? The contested role of worker solidarity in food delivery platforms

Abstract

Despite the algorithmic control they face and the individualised nature of their work, platform workers develop connections and form communities to support one another. In academic literature, this solidarity is often viewed as a mode of resistance to platforms. This article challenges that perspective by empirically examining the role of workers’ communities in the platform labour process. Drawing on an exploratory study of food delivery platforms in Chile, which included 43 interviews, five virtual shadowing sessions and 497 surveys, this research argues that solidarity plays a dual role: it fosters a critical collective consciousness that challenges the rules imposed by platforms, while also contributing to the production of consent. By helping workers assimilate the platforms’ rules or accommodate them to cope with the tensions of work, communities can reinforce the platform labour regime. The article suggests viewing labour solidarity as an inherently paradoxical and contested space.