The interweaving of Trade Union and financial spatialities in rider platforms in Spain

Abstract

Delivery platforms relying on rider labor have attracted the attention of financial actors who play a crucial role in shaping the business models, with consequences on scale, conditions, and fixing of the workforce that pose a challenge to Union action. This article examines from a spatial perspective the interplay between the finance of the three dominant platforms in Spain ―Glovo, Just Eat Takeaway, and Uber Eats― and labor unions, employing qualitative interviews and documentary analysis. The Rider Law recognized the employee status of rider which, after a first intervention by community unionism, predicted the consolidation of representative unionism. However, this consolidation was truncated by the platforms’ circumvention of the law, facilitated by investment strategies. The simultaneous efforts of workers, unions, and the government, coupled with the diminishing returns of investment, are countering this challenge by slowly dismantling representative unionism.