There are an estimated 67 million domestic workers globally, 80% of whom are women. Many of them work in low-paid, insecure and exploitative conditions. Technology-focused companies linking households to domestic workers through ‘on-demand’ platforms are attempting to disrupt the traditional sector, claiming to offer rapidly accessible, cheap domestic services to households, and flexible, well-remunerated economic...

Employment is widely recognised as the most vital step for successful settlement in a new country. However, recently arrived migrant and refugee workers face many barriers. Finding employment is difficult. For those who do find work, exploitation is widespread. Exploited workers are not aware of their rights, and rarely access help to enforce the law...

Uber manages a large, disaggregated workforce through its ridehail platform, one that delivers a relatively standardized experience to passengers while simultaneously promoting its drivers as entrepreneurs whose work is characterized by freedom, flexibility, and independence. Through a nine-month empirical study of Uber driver experiences, we found that Uber does leverage significant indirect control over how...

The Unions NSW report provides a case study of Airtasker, looking specifically at the industrial implications for workers. Airtasker is the leading provider of online facilitated task-based work, and is representative of the industrial risks associated with the disintegration of traditional jobs into short term tasks, often referred to as the ‘gig economy’. The Unions...

Workers compensation has a fraught history in most jurisdictions and Victoria is no exception. It is socially responsible to provide for a universal system of insurance covering work related injury to recognise the value of workers and the risks of work, and economically responsible both to support a return to work and to ensure that...