Introduction: Migrant Labour in the Platform Economy—The Intersection of Labor Digitization, Platform Capitalism, Migration, and Resistance

This book is an attempt to reveal the latest dynamics of global capitalism with platform and gig economy. It is shown that the new digital technology has not been used to ensure comfort or leisure for the global working class; but, on the contrary, used to extract super profit by making them more alienated, more vulnerable, more unprotected, more precarious, 24x7 job with no holidays, no trade union, no regular income. In the present neoliberal global (dis)order, war, conflict, unemploy-ment and insecurity often drive more people to leave their home or country and add them to increasing number of migrant labour, now visible portion of global workforce. In fact, capitalism in global scale has not been able to create decent, safe and regular jobs, rather created sea of unemployed work force, easy prey for precarious work. This book by compiling articles focuses on global south and also specific studies on India, Portugal, Greece, UK, Italy, China has brought new facts and insights crucial to understand development of ‘platform capitalism’ and the gig economy as well as the failure of traditional trade unions and looking for other ways for organizing workers.