Ghost work

“Ghost work” and its questions finally emerged from the shadows following recent wage protests against popular food delivery app Foodpanda.

Howls of protest immediately greeted Foodpanda’s 10-year suspension on about

30 of its riders in

Davao City, with many seeing the suspensions as alleged blatant labor abuse.

Foodpanda, however, sees the suspensions — which they term as “offboarded” — as within their rights, saying the riders’ planned offline protest action against it as “against the freelance agreement with Foodpanda.”

Who between the riders and Foodpanda is legally correct is fraught with many legal landmines and really does need sorting out by our lawmakers and courts.

Nonetheless, the case between Foodpanda and its motorcycle-bound workers delivering food for local restaurants also exposes an unexplored aspect on how people are employed in the modern digital world — “ghost

work.” “Ghost work,” as defined by Mary L. Grey and Siddharth Suri in their book Ghost Work, is “human labor powering many mobile phone apps, websites, and artificial intelligence systems can be hard to see — in fact, it’s often intentionally hidden. We call this opaque world of employment ghost work.”

Thus, in the case of Foodpanda, it is not only its mobile phone apps but also its human labor, the thousands of motorcycle riders powering its app and making it a successful food delivery company.

I can only offer here only sketches of the “ghost work” phenomenon. But the case between Foodpanda and its riders is not isolated.

Companies and workers involved in the new digital economy and its new business model of “on-demand services” sooner or later will face similar issues hounding Foodpanda. For now, “ghost work” is really hard to see. In fact, many often confuse “ghost work” and the “gig economy” as these have similarities.

“Ghost work” like the “gig economy,” for instance, upends traditional outlooks on what it means to hold a job. In most part, in both “gig economy” and “ghost work,” there are no set work hours and work projects are up for grabs and often assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

But, the “gig economy” is quietly moving to ghost work platforms, now that scores of new businesses are offering a myriad of “on-demand services” through computer software to people, essentially the “ghost work” market.

As to how these “on-demand services” platforms came about, many point to no other platforms than ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab.

In the ride-hailing business, many often see the only customer is the one who contracts a driver. Rider-customers open Uber’s app and use its software to find someone to hire for a ride.

But there is another customer which most people hardly see: Uber also sees its driver-partner as the other customer.

This is so because the driver-partner uses the same Uber’s software to make money when they offer their time and personal vehicle to respond to rider-customers’ requests, picking them up and dropping them off at a destination plugged into the app.

Obviously, this is also what is happening between Foodpanda and its motorcycle riders. Only in Foodpanda’s case, the two customers are concerned with food requests rather than rides.

But whatever the arrangements there are in other “on-demand services,” it seems clear these newer companies typically make money by cashing in on both sides of the ghost work market.

In fact, most of these companies look at themselves more as software companies rather than as traditional service companies.

Such arrangements, however, also means ghost work platforms and individual requesters of food or rides can wash their hands of the pain they inflict on workers.

In short, the workers become ghostly figures because no one specifically can be held accountable for their plight as workers.

In the case of Foodpanda, however, calls for a boycott of its app is being made. Is it now upon those requesting for food delivery to defend workers?

At any rate, there is need to bring ghost work out of the shadows. It is when such mode of employment is examined thoroughly will we know how large are Filipino “on-demand services” companies, how many Filipinos actively work for such companies, and the arrangements and obligations these workers have entered into.

And, by clearly seeing such a shadow workforce can we have any idea on the nature and reorganization of modern employment itself.

“There is need to bring ghost work out of the shadows.

“Who between the riders and Foodpanda is legally correct is fraught with many legal landmines.