Abstract
Jamie Woodcock's book is ‘about the struggles of platform workers’ (p. 1), the main argument centred around digital workerism and how platforms provide a technical foundation for new global struggles against capitalism. The book is divided into six chapters based upon three research projects, one ethnographic, one academic and a collaborative project with IWGB (Independent Workers Union in Great Britain), that function as the backbone of the book. There is particular focus on Deliveroo, Uber, and videogame workers among others. Woodcock's writing is often self-referential and based upon personal publications and research. In his introduction Wodocock clearly outlines how the book will be structured and defines platforms. Chapter two provides an outline of this framework of the book, which revolves around digital workerism, and highlights new potential conflicts that have arisen from it. Chapter three focuses on the struggles of transport workers such as food transportation and private hire drivers and discusses protests, strikes and the formation of the Transnational Federation of Couriers. Chapter four places its focus on online workers and the role of automation and the organisational challenges within the digital networks. Chapter five pulls elements and case studies and shifts the analytical lens to consider the struggles of platform workers in a wider context – with particular interest in power-relations. Woodcock concludes and reminds his readers as to why struggles against platform capitalism matter by reminding us of the three vital dynamics that have resulted in the shift in global composition of platform work: ‘1. The increasing connections between platform workers, showing that they are not isolated. 2. The lack of communication and negotiation from platforms, leading to escalating worker action around shared issues. 3. The internationalisation of platforms, which has laid the basis for new transnational solidarity’ (p. 85). He highlights that the fight of platform workers ‘matters beyond the immediate platform they are resisting’ (p. 89).