Hiding behind the platform: the myth of flexibility for gig workers in Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Mainstream arguments hold that the digital gig economy has been a boon for countries with high levels of unemployment, and some have even deemed it the future of work. Online platform companies handling transportation, courier and food delivery services – such as Gojek, Grab and Maxim – have similarly built narratives that the drivers who become their partners will enjoy flexible working conditions. Using a structural analysis of flexible work mechanisms in the digital gig economy, this article explores the asymmetrical power of gig workers and online platform companies. Taking a post-positivist approach, the data in this research were collected through interviews with 290 platform drivers. The results show that the structural situation, wherein extensive reserves of labour exist and workers’ power is weak, has created a significant power asymmetry between gig workers and platform companies. The impact of this asymmetry of power makes the flexibility promised to gig workers a myth and actually increases precarity for workers.

KEYWORDS:

• Decent work
• flexible work
• gig economy
• platform driver
• vulnerable workers
• Indonesia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Rp 4.416 million (Statistics Indonesia 2021)

2 Rp 2.4 million (Statistics Indonesia 2021)

3 Rp 1.7 million (Statistics Indonesia 2021)

4 Interview with Sayekti (pseudonym), Yogyakarta, 15 July 2020.

5 Interview with Siswono (pseudonym), Jakarta, 18 October 2020.

6 Interview with Rianto (pseudonym), Bali, 15 July 2020.

7 Interview with Grab Driver Partner, Yogyakarta, 21 August 2020.

8 Interview with Sahid (pseudonym), Yogyakarta, 20 October 2020.

9 Interview with Ministry of Transportation official, 21 October 2020.

10 Interview, Ministry of Transportation official, 21 October 2020.

11 Interview, Ministry of Transportation official, 21 October 2020.

12 Interview, Ministry of Labour official, 10 November 2020.

13 Interview, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs official, 26 October 2020.

14 Interview, Ministry of Communication and Informatics official, 1 November 2021.

15 Interview, Ministry of Transportation official, 21 October 2020.

16 Interview, Ministry of Transportation official, 21 October 2020.