Fairwork Foundation IIITB Online Platform Labour Workshop

Date: 5/7/2018

Description: The Fairwork Foundation, in collaboration with the Center for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP), organized a workshop on online platform labour on the 5th July 2018. Held at IIIT-Bangalore, the workshop was designed as a multi-stakeholder meeting to gauge what might be considered ‘fair’ online work in the Indian context. Against the backdrop of a growing number of platform workers (7 million across the world), the workshop was convened to discuss and deliberate on the nine principles of fairness in relation to platform work, identified by the Fairwork Foundation, on the basis of consultation and research in other countries. The core question was how the nine general principles could be contextualized and operationalized in the Indian context, where 24% of the world’s online labour is to be found. The inputs from various stakeholders will provide the basis for further research in India. Another goal of the workshop was to examine the viability of a certification mechanism to rank and rate platforms. The workshop was attended by members of the academia, international policy agencies, think tanks, corporate research labs, worker and civil society organizations, activist groups, labour unions, platform representatives, lawyers and online workers.

For a list of workshop attendees, click here.

For an overview of workshop proceedings, click here.

CITAPP at IIIT Bangalore is an interdisciplinary think-tank set-up to focus on the policy challenges and the organizational demands made by technological innovation. Of particular interest to the Centre is how technological advances, along with institutional changes that harness the legitimacy and the powers of bureaucracies and market, address the needs of underserved communities.