Ten-year funding secured for research addressing conditions in the gig economy
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A charity that brings researchers and workers together to campaign for better conditions in the gig economy has received funding for the next 10 years.
The Workers’ Observatory, co-founded by academics at the University of Edinburgh and University of St Andrews in 2019, has secured long-term funding as part of the Migrant Justice Edinburgh Alliance.
Challenging the conditions of the gig economy
The funding will enable The Workers’ Observatory to continue its work, bringing together platform workers, researchers and organisers to examine and challenge conditions in the gig economy. The Edinburgh-based worker-led organisation monitors new forms of work in the city and develops tools and tactics to address unfair working conditions.
The new funding is for the Migrant Justice Edinburgh Alliance, which consists of The Workers’ Observatory and two other organisations: the Citizens’ Rights Project and Empowering Multicultural Communities Alliance. The three organisations will collectively receive £100,000 a year for 10 years from Edinburgh’s £15m Regenerative Futures Fund (RFF), which supports community work on poverty, racism and climate.
The Regenerative Futures Fund announced 10-year support for 11 organisations and partnerships, with the funding decisions made by a residents’ panel of local people with direct experience of poverty and racism.
The co-founders of The Workers’ Observatory are Dr Karen Gregory, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Science, and Dr Cailean Gallagher from the University of St Andrews Business School.
Building on research into digital-economy self employment
Dr Gregory’s research has been integral to The Workers’ Observatory. She explores the nature and experience of self employment in the digital economy, with a focus on platform labour, risk and precarity. The project builds upon her Worker Data Science research, which investigates the challenges faced by Edinburgh’s on-demand delivery drivers.
Dr Gregory said: “With funding from the Regenerative Futures Fund, The Workers’ Observatory will be able to continue its mission to support precarious platform workers, with an expanded horizon of working directly with migrant communities across the city. We’re hoping to build a safe, worker-managed space in the city that can lead a discussion on fair work, decent work, and human rights in the digital economy.”