Deliveroo exits Australia - Will non-core post

 Labour Update:

The food delivery platform Deliveroo has announced today that it is entering administration and will be leaving Australia. (Despite the name, it is a UK company). Deliveroo states that they are

Deliveroo has provided work to many within Australia, particularly during the pandemic, with lots of job losses in other sectors. Consistent with legacies of settler colonial racism and the Google campus workers discussed in the D'Ignacio and Klein reading, the majority of these workers are migrants on temporary work visas (and without citizen pandemic protections such as income support and healthcare). Like other gig economy arrangements, these workers are 'contractors' receive minimal protections from platforms. Many scholars have labelled this work unfair, exploitative and deadly, with regulatory responses slowly catching up.  

The exit of Deliveroo may be a positive sign of shifting towards greater labour protections within the gig economy, and the inability of corporations to continue to operate in this way given mounting pressure to change. However, consistent with the power imbalances of the industry, their abrupt exit also means that workers may not be paid the money that they are owed for work already completed. Moreover, these workers have abruptly lost a stream of income. Though, I am hopeful that positive change is on the way!