The use of digital technology has become a key part of contemporary debates on how work is changing, the future of work/ers, resistance, and organising. Workerism took up many of these questions in the context of the factory – particularly through the Italian Operaismo – connecting the experience of the workplace with a broader struggle against capitalism. However, there are many differences between those factories and the new digital workplaces in which many workers find themselves today. The methods of workers’ inquiry and the theories of class composition are a useful legacy from Operaismo, providing tools and a framework to make sense of and intervene within workers’ struggles today. However, these require sharpening and updating in a digital context. In this article, we discuss the challenges and opportunities for a “digital workerism”, understood as both a research and organising method. We use the case study of Uber to discuss how technology can be used against workers, as well as repurposed by them in various ways. By developing an analysis of the technical, social, and political re-composition taking place on the platform, we move beyond determinist readings of technology, to place different technologies within the social relations that are emerging. In particular, we draw attention to the new forms through which workers’ struggles can be circulated. Through this, we argue for a “digital workerism” that develops a critical understanding of how the workplace can become a key site for the struggles of digital/communicative socialism.

This article discusses the Fast Food Shutdown, a strike on 4 October 2018 that involved Wetherspoon, McDonald’s, TGI Fridays and UberEats workers in the United Kingdom. It compares the different strategies of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers’ Union at Wetherspoon and Industrial Workers of the World at UberEats. The two case studies, drawing on the authors’ ongoing ethnographic research, provide important examples of successful precarious worker organising. In particular, the argument focuses on the role of action in organising, as well as the relationship between the rank-and-file and the union. While these could point the way to the recomposition of the workers movement – both in greenfield sectors and within existing unions – there remain important questions about how these experiences can be generalised.

It has been five years since the first strikes of Deliveroo workers in London in 2016. Since then, workers have continued to organise. The campaigns have involved five different aspects: first, wildcat strike action; second, networks and internationalisation; third, union organising with the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (iwgb); fourth, legal campaigning; and fifth, wider leverage campaigns. What is less understood so far is the different strengths and weaknesses of these aspects, and how they have contributed to the build of workers’ self-organisation and power at Deliveroo. This article explores the different aspects and considers the effectiveness of each. It concludes by considering what can be learned from these struggles for the understanding of platform work and trade union organising today.

This article provides an introduction to the Transnational Federation of Couriers by presenting the results of ongoing processes of participant observation carried out by the authors. First, it gives an account of the formation of the TFC out of preexisting networks. Second, it moves onto a discussion of how the TFC was able to formulate a set of demands which applied across the different contexts and environments of its member organizations. Third, it discusses how the TFC has functioned in practice, focusing on collective actions and responses to deaths at work. The article finds that workers in platform capitalism have the capacity to generate new forms of collective self-organisation adequate to their recomposed technical and social composition. These forms are not limited to the level of the city or nation, but also exist on the global scale of platforms themselves.

RESUMOO uso das tecnologias digitais tornou-se parte essencial dos debates contemporâneos sobre como o trabalho está mudando, o futuro do trabalho e dos trabalhadores, incluindo as resistências e a organização. O operaísmo levantou muitas dessas questões no contexto da fábrica -particularmente por meio do Operaismo italiano -conectando a experiência do local de trabalho a uma luta mais ampla contra o capitalismo. No entanto, há muitas diferenças entre essas fábricas e os novos locais de trabalho digitais nos quais muitos trabalhadores se encontram hoje. Os métodos de pesquisa a partir dos trabalhadores e as teorias da composição de classes são um legado útil do Operaísmo, fornecendo ferramentas e uma perspectiva para compreender e intervir nas lutas dos trabalhadores hoje. No entanto, isso exige aprimoramento e atualização em ABSTRACT The use of digital technology has become a key part of contemporary debates on how work is changing, the future of work/ers, resistance, and organising. Workerism took up many of these questions in the context of the factory -particularly through the Italian Operaismo -connecting the experience of the workplace with a broader struggle against capitalism. However, there are many differences between those factories and the new digital workplaces in which many workers find themselves today. The methods of workers' inquiry and the theories of class composition are a useful legacy from Operaismo, providing tools and a framework to make sense of and intervene within workers' struggles today. However, these require sharpening and updating in a digital context.