Platform labor is the latest facet of increasingly digitized work. It is work in bits and pieces, anywhere and anytime. Potentially, it offers a glimpse of the working relationships of the future. For some, it is a new form of cooperation that transcends the capitalist economy. For others, it is seen as an extension and radicalization of precarization coupled with comprehensive digital control and surveillance via algorithms.
The presentation examines platform labor and its various forms, and discusses both the opportunities and the barriers for workers' voice and a democratically organized platform labor. Different types of fragmentation of platform workers are analysed, which lead to workers' silence and make representation unlikely. Against this background, a broad spectrum of workers' voice forms that are prevalent and emerging in platform labour is examined. The presentation thus provides an overview of the current state of research and presents challenges and perspectives for workers' voice.