Date of Publication: 2021
Working with union leaders from across the New Digital Lab movement, they have mapped out 27
common challenges faced by unions after a year of adapting to Covid-19. Some of these challenges
have been caused by the response to the pandemic. Some are wider issues that the pandemic has
exacerbated. But all of them are likely to stay with us for the long term. [View resource]

Authors: Imraan Mahomed, Kelebogile Selema
Date of Publication: 2021
When the world of work, like every other facet of our lives, has to be reimagined because of a
relentless pandemic that continues to ravage our everyday lives, the words “show you the world,
shining, shimmering, splendid” do not ring true. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 2021
The investigation and assessment of European subcontracting chains carried out in six sectors for
ETUC. [View resource]

Authors: Cremers J. and Houwerzijl M.
Date of Publication: 2021
This report fits in an ETUC-project on ‘Securing Workers Rights in subcontracting chains’ as a second
stage of research and analysis. The objective of the project is to build a case for a consistent EU
approach towards subcontracting and to help create better tools and conditions (a more adequate
legal framework) for workers’ representatives to know about their rights and to be informed and
consulted about the practices of their company along its subcontracting chain. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 16 June 2021

This is a brief pamphlet to celebrate International Domestic Workers Day. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 25 May 2021

Nowhere is our future more in flux than the future of work. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced
many organisations to revolutionise their ways of working almost overnight and brought the future
of work to the present. Remote work has become the “new normal,” and companies are making it
part of their long-term strategies to ensure business continuity. Work will never be the same again.
Yet it remains central to what it means to be human. Work gives us meaning and for centuries
labour, driven by both humans and technology, has enabled remarkable advances in human life
expectancy, prosperity and achievement. How will this relationship between the workforce, work
models and work environment evolve? And how can we as business leaders, policymakers and
individuals see further into the forces that will shape our future and bring about the future we want?
We asked some of the world’s most respected academics, business leaders and employees across
the US and Europe to join us in imagining what the future of work might look like in 2035, the
opportunities and threats it might hold, and how people and technology may work together to
generate value. This exercise raised the fundamental questions that must be faced by every business
and government organisation in their long-term strategic planning. How will workers be organised to
deliver value? How will people partner with technology and will we see the emergence of human-
machine teaming? What new opportunities will workers be afforded and what novel pitfalls will they
face? How might governments and supranational entities respond with regulation to support
workers and ensure competition in the new world of work? [View resource]

Author: Kirsten Eiser, Siya Ngcamu, Shane Johnson and Keah Challenor.
Date of Publication: 2 March 2021

Uber drivers are currently classified as independent contractors in South Africa, but there are plans
to launch a class action to compel Uber SA to confer several key rights on its drivers, which, if
successful, will affect the rights of platform workers. The outcome of the potential class action will
significantly influence not only the rights of Uber drivers, but also the rights of other individuals
undertaking platform work. This is an area which the authors hope to continue to monitor and to
provide updates as soon as new developments arise. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 2021

The ILAW Network is pleased to present the first in its series of special publications. This report,
Taken for a Ride: Litigating the Digital Platform Model, attempts to respond to requests from ILAW
Network members and others for comparative analysis on the litigation taking place around the
world against digital platforms such as Uber, Foodora, Deliveroo and many others. This report is
divided into two parts. Part I is an essay prepared by Jason Moyer-Lee1 and Nicola Contouris2 which
surveys the major cases which have been brought by workers against digital platforms concerning
the existence of an employment relation-ship – whether to contest unjust dismissal, to claim a
certain wage or benefit or to be able to join a union and benefit from a collective agreement. Part II
of this report is a digest of key judicial decisions concerning digital platforms, including case
summaries from every region and related news and analysis. [View resource]

Author: Trebor Scholz, Dough O’Brien and Jason Spicer.
Date of Publication: 11 March 2021

 [View resource]

Authors: Funda Ustek-Spilda, Richard Heeks, Mark Graham, Alessio Bertolini, NancySalem, Srujana
Katta, Sandy Fredman, Kelle Howson, Fabian Ferrari, Mounika Neerukonda, Pradyumna Taduri,
Adam Badger and Pablo Aguera Reneses.
Date of Publication: 2020

The report examines the impact of Covid-19 on gig workers. It’s key findings reflect the following:
Fair Pay: While it remains the most important for workers, we found little evidence of platforms
offering compensation for loss of income. Direct policies to increase pay were mostly advertised by
large multinational platforms, like Uber, but were often only available to a fraction of their
workforce. When government funding became available to gig workers in some countries, platforms
transferred the responsibility over to the governments. Fair conditions 1 (Prevention): More
platforms offered hygiene guidance and protective equipment to workers, especially since many of
these measures became compulsory by governments. ‘Contact-free services’ were also common but
more often oriented towards clients than workers. Fair Conditions 2 (Illness): Just over half of the
platforms surveyed were offering some form of sick pay policy. However, these often consisted of
flat-rate payments that in practice fall below the local minimum wage. Access to the schemes also
remains a contested issue. Where government financial relief was extended to gig workers,
platforms again shifted the responsibility to the state instead of offering extra relief measures. Fair
contracts: The normalisation of platforms offering (some form) of assistance to their workers during
the COVID-19 crisis suggests that the meaning of ‘independent contractor’ has begun to change. [View resource]

Author: Alberto Barrio
Date of Publication: 2020

A brief essay describing a significant development in national labor law: legislative, judicial,
administrative. The importance of the development in domestic context should be explained; the
reasons for transnational interest might be suggested. [View resource]

Author: Gasa S.
Date of Publication: 2020

South African domestic workers have long been deprived of recognition as employees. The South
African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union and other activist organisations asked the
Constitutional Court to confirm a High Court ruling, which affirmed domestic workers’ rights. Eight
years after one of their own died at an employer’s home, the ConCourt hearing symbolised the
beginning of closure for the deceased’s daughter. [View resource]

Author: Bellon T
Date of Publication: 2020

Uber Technologies Inc. on Wednesday informed its California customers that it would switch to
providing estimates as opposed to fixed prices for its rides in response to a new law that makes it
harder to qualify its drivers as contractors. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 2020

[View resource]

Authors: Thomas Haipeter, Dominick Owczareck, Michele Faioli and Feliciano Ludicone.
Date of Publication: 2020
This report was produced as part of the ‘Don’t GIG up!’ project, co- funded by the Directorate-
General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission, and aimed at
improving expertise and knowledge on the role unions and social dialogue can play with regard to
the protection of gig workers. Running for 24 months (February 2018 – January 2020), the project
brings together unions and research centres to analyse features and challenges of the gig economy
in a set of selected countries, namely Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. More
precisely, the scope of the project is work carried out through labour platforms. At the onset of the
research, such platforms were divided into four groups according to their core activities, as per the
table below. [View resource]

Author: Gilwad A.
Date of Publication: 2019

The author argues that uncritically embracing the World Economic Forum’s concept of 4IR
technologies having the potential to propel digitally-ready countries into a new age of economic
prosperity is distracting South Africa from the unfinished business of redressing inequality and
creating the preconditions for an inclusive digital economy. [View resource]

Author: Fisk C.
Date of Publication: 2019.

California, many other states, and the United States government, have laws imposing minimum
standards of employment (such as wages and hours), limited financial benefits for workers who
become unemployed or are injured in the course of employment, and benefits for employees after
retirement age or who become unable to work because of disability. Most of these laws define the
scope of their coverage by saying they apply to “employees.” Companies figured out that if they
reclassified their workforce as “independent contractors” they could avoid the considerable wage,
payroll tax, and other costs of complying with law. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 2019

On 8 April 2019 the High-Level Expert Group on the Impact of the Digital Transformation on EU
Labour Markets, comprising representatives from academia, civil society and industry, issued its final
report with recommendations including policy actions for the EU, Member States, businesses and
other stakeholders to shape the digital transformation of the world of work. These include proposals
for the development of a skilled workforce, new labour relations and a new social contract. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 25 February 2019

The South African government recognises that the social economy has the potential to stimulate
economic activity while fostering greater social cohesion, inclusion and solidarity. A case may be
made for an appropriate set of policy support. The Draft Green Paper is a consultation document
that sets out preliminary thinking and proposals of a policy position, with specific recommendations,
for consultation with a range of interested parties. After the initial consultation, it will be considered
within Government and. if approved, released as a Green Paper. Formal consultation will then be
conducted and, on conclusion of the process, Government will consider the matter further and any
approved policy will be published in the form of a White Paper, either for consultation or for
implementation. [View resource]

Authors: Ivanova M., Bronowicka J., Kocher E., et al.
Date of Publication: 2019

 [View resource]

Authors: Bowles N and Scheiber N.
Date of Publication: 2019

A state law meant to protect workers at companies like Uber and Lyft takes effect on Wednesday.
Some say it will limit their prospects. [View resource]

Authors: Scheiber N.
Date of Publication: 2019

Senator Bernie Sanders and others seeking the Democratic presidential nomination are embracing
labor proposals that go far beyond what the party establishment backed four years ago. [View resource]

Author: Carney M.
Date of Publication: 2018

Speech given by Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England [View resource]

Author: Meinert M.
Date of Publication: 2018

The ‘four scenarios’ describe different, but equally plausible ‘futures’ of digitalisation in the wortd of
work. They bring to light various opportunities and challenges that in future could play more or less
important roles for codetermination actors. They offer a frame of reference for assessing current
developments and existing strategies for action and for opening up more creative scope for
successful codetermination. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 2018

Presentation from Parliament’s Research Unit on the envisaged effects of the Fourth Industrial
Revolution on the labour market. Addressing how other countries are preparing for 4IR, concern for
how labour matters will be navigated in South Africa and the role of Parliament in bringing about
legislation for market regulation and protection of workers, as well as introducing new forms of
social dialogue to cater for new ways of working. [View resource]

Author: Smith C
Date of Publication: 2018

The article reflects an employer’s perspective on protections against exploitation of vulnerable
workers provided for in amendments to employment legislation. [View resource]

Author: Sharma Y.
Date of Publication: 2018.

Universities will be key in bridging new emerging ‘digital divides’ within countries and globally in the
era of innovation driven by artificial intelligence and other new technologies, a conference organised
by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) heard. [View resource]

Author: De Vos M.
Date of Publication: 2018

The paper explores possible avenues for a transformation of labour law corresponding to the
substantial transformation referred to as ‘Work 4.0’. It begins by identifying the underlying
transformational trends (Section 1-2) to argue five core priorities for the future of labour law:
activation 2.0, transversal career management, sustained labour quality focus, continuous and
integrated talent development, and active support of economic participation (Section 3). Adopting a
long term view, it describes the potential dismantling of the employment contract to develop a
future of labour law as a ‘law on persons’ beyond employment status, with a corresponding need to
reconfigure collective consultation and bargaining (Section 4). It concludes by stressing that the
future of labour law is a choice (Section 5). [View resource]

Author: Ballim F. and Breckenridge K.
Date of Publication: 2018

The importance of collections running into hundreds of millions of carefully assembled examples for
training machine learning algorithms raises the obvious question of whether the relative absence of
data places the African continent beyond the operations of artificial intelligence. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 2018

This is a first in what the author hopes will be a series of practical articles about the nut and bolts of
setting up a worker cooperative. In this first article, the author is going to take a look at an important
but poorly-understood subject: minimum profit plow-back rules. [View resource]

Author: Lawrence R.
Date of Publication: 2018

The report summarises presentations by Prof Lawrence on the evolution of manufacturing activities
globally, the extent to which digitisation and robotisation are undermining the prospects of
employment growth in this sector, and what South Africa could and should do to expand
manufacturing employment. [View resource]

Authors: Forde C., Stuart M., Joyce S. et al.
Date of Publication: 2017

This study investigates the social protection of workers in the platform economy at the request of
the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee. The report reviews literature
and previous research on the platform economy with the aims of defining it and developing a
typology for understanding its nature. It discusses the growth and drivers of the platform economy,
as well as benefits and challenges for workers, reporting findings from 50 interviews conducted with
expert stakeholders in eight European countries and from an original survey of 1,200 platform
workers. It dissects the different normative layers that need to be considered when looking at the
challenges of social protection of platform workers from a legal perspective. Finally, the report
draws conclusions and makes recommendations concerning arrangements for the provision of social
protection for workers in this growing sector of the economy. [View resource]

Authors: Oosthuizen J.H
Date of Publication: 2016

The paper argues that humanity finds itself at the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The
introduction of new business models, the disruption of incumbents and the reshaping of production,
consumption, transportation and delivery systems are evidence of profound changes taking place
across industries. The velocity, breadth, depth, and impact of the changes are unlike those
previously experienced. From the premise of these challenges and opportunities Schwab (2016)
propagated a 4-type intelligence proposition (contextual-, emotional-, inspired-, and physical
intelligence) to be applied so as to adapt and harness the potential of disruption. Applying critical
interpretive synthesis, this paper argues the lack of a disposition type of intelligence in Schwab’s
proposition and proposes its expansion to include entrepreneurial intelligence, thereby increasing
the potential of realisation, impact and value creating solutions. [View resource]

Date of Publication: 2016

Achieving a Digital Single Market (DSM) in Europe is a prerequisite for attracting investment in digital
innovations and for faster business growth in the digital economy. This Communication introduces a
set of coherent policy measures as part of a DSM technologies and public services modernisation
package. The package includes an additional three Communications The Communication explains
how the various measures relate to each other. It also aims to establish a framework for
coordination between national and EU-level initiatives in this area and relevant policy actions
including investments in digital innovations and infrastructure, accelerating the development of ICT
standards, exploring regulatory conditions and adaptation of the workforce, including up-skilling. [View resource]

The Fraunhofer IPT has already implemented numerous aspects of connected, adaptive production
in its research and development projects with partners from a wide range of industrial sectors.
Selected examples of successes in this field are outlined in the following pages of this brochure. [View resource]