Platform co-ops

n the face of widespread dissatisfaction with capitalism, it is time to ask, “What kind of new economy do we want to create?” Instead of optimizing the online economy for growth and short-term profits for the few, we need to optimize the digital economy for all people.

Platform co-ops offer a near-future, alternative to platform capitalism based on cooperative principles such as democratic ownership and governance.

Given that many gigs are performed by people who are invisible to customers in sectors such as home cleaning, especially women of color are seeing fewer benefits, lower pay, and hardly any opportunity for meaningful on-the-job skills training. Their rights as workers have stalled. Especially non-white workers remain unprotected against discrimination. The inequalities created by the gig economy are magnifying existing systemic injustice based on gender, ability, and race. Platform co-ops introduce introduce economic fairness, training, and democratic participation in the running of online businesses.

In the following years, Lewis was among the rideshare drivers who found they were losing more money than they were making. According to studies from March 2018, once Uber and Lyft drivers had factored in insurance, maintenance, repairs, fuel, and other driving costs, 54 percent of them made profits that fell below the minimum wage, and 8 percent lost money doing the job. Lewis recalls how, in 2018, several drivers with Uber and other for-hire companies died by suicide after experiencing increasing debt and financial worries.

At the start of the pandemic conditions worsened, and self-employed gig workers around the world were left with no safety net as they saw their work drying up and became afraid to continue working. Uber and Lyft eventually offered drivers sick pay benefits, but they did not qualify for them unless they had a positive result from a Covid-19 test or an order from a medical professional asking them to self-isolate, which were very difficult to obtain at that time. This meant that, in that period, many drivers were forced to pick between avoiding the virus and making a living. In California, unemployment support for gig economy workers was eventually funded by federal taxpayers instead of state employment funds and the companies themselves.

They launched the Drivers Cooperative in December 2020, which aimed to give drivers a greater portion of their earnings, have profits redistributed back to them with an annual dividend, and give them assistance with auto loan refinancing. The Co-Op Ride app followed soon after, and within a few months, had been downloaded 40,000 times. Its drivers earn approximately 8 to 10 percent more than those working for Uber or Lyft, and with 6,000 members it is the largest worker-owned cooperative in the US.

The growth rate of platform cooperatives is hard to pinpoint, because they don’t have to be registered with any government to exist. According to the UK’s Employee Ownership Association, the employee-owned sector (which includes platform cooperatives) has doubled in the UK since 2020 to over 1,030 companies. Close to two-thirds of these employee-owned businesses have a statement of purpose, which includes making a positive contribution to society and the environment, while 96 percent saying that looking after the workforce is a key measure of business success.