The Workers' Observatory
workersobservatory.org
The Workers' Observatory
@workersobservatory.org
We are a collective of platform workers and researchers challenging conditions in self-employed and gig work.

🗺️ Edinburgh, Scotland
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
Yes, we have been a bit missing over here for the last two months!

We´ve been busy connecting with workers and migrant communities in Craigmillar and Niddrie, and we want to share with you more about this journey.

✒️Full article here: workersobservatory.org/building-the...

#Craigmillar #gigwork
November 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
Building the Craigmillar & Niddrie of the Future: Migrant-Led Change in Action workersobservatory.org/building-the... @workersobservatory.org
workersobservatory.org
November 21, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Yes, we have been a bit missing over here for the last two months!

We´ve been busy connecting with workers and migrant communities in Craigmillar and Niddrie, and we want to share with you more about this journey.

✒️Full article here: workersobservatory.org/building-the...

#Craigmillar #gigwork
November 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
To read:

Methodological Considerations for Centering Workers’ Epistemic Authority in AI Research
ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AI...
Methodological Considerations for Centering Workers’ Epistemic Authority in AI Research | Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
ojs.aaai.org
November 16, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
NOTES TOWARD A DIGITAL WORKERS' INQUIRY by The Capacitor Collective delivers first-hand accounts from the tech sector’s burgeoning labor movement.

Preorders save a couple bucks and get a free zine on the history of workers' inquiries! Checkout with coupon code DIGITALWORKERS: buff.ly/9Li5A3U
October 3, 2025 at 6:36 PM
NZ: Uber loses Supreme Court appeal over drivers' employment status

"We're going back and calculating exactly what Uber would owe drivers if they had paid them at least the minimum wage, whatever it was at the time, and given them annual leave and so on,"
www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
Uber loses Supreme Court appeal over drivers' employment status
The Supreme Court has unanimously voted in favour of the drivers.
www.rnz.co.nz
November 17, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
The state's Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act took effect on Monday. Under the law, businesses have to tell customers when they are using their personal data, such as where they are and what they've purchased in the past, to determine price:
www.businessinsider.com/uber-doordas...
Uber and DoorDash now disclose when algorithms set prices. There's still one big question.
Uber and DoorDash started using disclosures about algorithmic pricing in New York this week.
www.businessinsider.com
November 15, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
"This is a system where migrant workers are tolerated only as long as they remain silent, flexible and invisible."

www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Life as a food delivery worker: ‘Sometimes men open the door naked’
To earn a living as a delivery rider, some work 10-12 hour days, contending with low pay, exhaustion, accidents, injuries and harassment. Is this a new form of modern slavery?
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
Xabier Villares on the Workers Observatory project which is organising with workers from the gig economy, mostly delivery drivers in Edinburgh ...
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2024/12/08/s...
Self-Organising Workers in the Gig Economy
The Workers Observatory project is organising with workers from the gig economy, mostly delivery drivers in the cities. Xabier Villares reports. On the 12th of December, the Workers Observatory (WO…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 9, 2024 at 4:23 PM
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Fed up of "reckless" Deliveroo cyclists on the roads? It's not as simple as you'd think- through the Workers Observatory, cycle delivery courriers are shedding light on their gruelling and unsafe working conditions. Believe me, they're fed up too.
www.edinburghinquirer.co.uk/p/you-can-ma...
‘You can make as little as £3 in an hour’: Inside Edinburgh's gig economy
The delivery riders facing dangerous conditions for low pay in the Capital
www.edinburghinquirer.co.uk
March 24, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
New book alert!📘
Our book on workers talking about their experiences of workers inquiry research, and working with academic workers to build power! with the Capacitor Collective
NOTES TOWARD A DIGITAL WORKERS' INQUIRY by The Capacitor Collective delivers first-hand accounts from the tech sector’s burgeoning labor movement.

Preorders save a couple bucks and get a free zine on the history of workers' inquiries! Checkout with coupon code DIGITALWORKERS: buff.ly/9Li5A3U
November 8, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
Genuinely detest this framing: "Illegal working creates an incentive for people attempting to arrive in this country illegally."

news.sky.com/story/bosses...
Huge rise in raids on salons and takeaways revealed in illegal working crackdown
Ministers are considering plans to penalise employers who fail to carry out full right-to-work checks on staff
news.sky.com
November 1, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
Uber is giving drivers and couriers an option to do on-screen gig work when they're not ferrying people or food around -- it's mostly data collection and data labeling for AI companies. (How long until they are helping train their own replacements, robotaxis & robots?) www.cnbc.com/2025/10/16/u...
Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
Uber says it's offering drivers ways to make money when not ferrying around passengers.
www.cnbc.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
This project is an example of @alexhanna.bsky.social's vision for DAIR, she said she wanted to make researchers organizers and organizers researchers (something to that effect and I believe there's a related quote from someone else).🧵
🚨NEW🚨 from DAIR:

Today we are releasing "Driven Down", a new report on how workplace technology enables Amazon to steal wages, hide labor,
intensify poor working conditions, and evade responsibility.

Read the full report here: drive.google.com/file/d/1yBxy...
October 22, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
If any US tech journalists want to chat with @workersobservatory.org let us know. Could be funding here:

omidyar.com/where-we-foc...
Tech Journalism Fund - Omidyar Network
omidyar.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
On Thursday, @workersobservatory.org will run a workshop for on-demand couriers in Edinburgh. The workshop will explore how these workers can shape demands for inclusion in the city's Fair Work Charter and FW consultation.
September 30, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
Protests erupted in multiple cities and tensions soared across Indonesia on Friday, a day after a delivery rider was allegedly run over by a police armored vehicle during clashes between riot police and students protesting against lawmakers’ allowances.
Tensions soar across Indonesia as protests against police erupt in multiple cities | CNN
Protests erupted in multiple cities and tensions soared across Indonesia on Friday, a day after a delivery rider was allegedly run over by a police armored vehicle during clashes between riot police a...
www.cnn.com
August 29, 2025 at 6:31 PM
September 29, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
Thanks to @edi.bike and @edinburghminute.bsky.social for picking up news of the @workersobservatory.org workshop this week:

We Deserve Fair Work - Workshop for Delivery Riders in Edinburgh

luma.com/3r5hmptg
We Deserve Fair Work - Workshop for Delivery Riders in Edinburgh · Luma
Food delivery workers in Edinburgh, join the Workers' Observatory and ROOM for our workshop titled "We Deserve Fair Work!" For too long, delivery workers have…
luma.com
September 29, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
"Much this conversation around e-bikes and e-vehicles focuses on individual actions and infractions," said @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social

"And one of the things that I will do is focus on the systemic drivers of this chaotic streetscape, one of them being the app companies."
Zohran Mamdani On E-Bike Safety: Regulate App Algorithms, Not Workers - Streetsblog New York City
The presumptive mayor is joining the war against e-bikes ... on the side of the e-bikes.
buff.ly
September 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
This is the fund that awarded to @workersobservatory.org, in collaboration with Citizens Rights Network and Empowering Multicultural Communities Alliance (EMCA).

Together, the three organisations have formed the collective "Migrant Justice Edinburgh."
I am so proud of my city! Edinburgh is working with and providing long-term funding for communities on citizen-led initiatives, to tackle the big issues like historic racism, inequality, and the climate crisis.
September 6, 2025 at 11:20 AM
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Our screening of Union on September 20th at the Filmhouse Edinburgh will include an introduction from Chris Smalls - founder of the Amazon Labor Union - especially recorded for Take One Action!

👇Here’s an early sneak peek of it...
August 30, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by The Workers' Observatory
"For Jakarta’s ride-hailing drivers, grief has turned into a rallying cry." www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia...
‘Justice for Affan’: Outrage in Jakarta after delivery rider killed by police vehicle in protest clash
The incident occurred during Jakarta’s second major protest rally this week. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.
www.straitstimes.com
August 31, 2025 at 4:44 PM