Gig economy workers may soon own their platforms

12 June 2018

Technology Decisions

Australia’s Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) has joined an international initiative to develop open-source technology for creating worker-owned gig economy platforms.

The BCCM will work with the global Platform Cooperativism Consortium on the development of the new Platform Co-Op Development Kit, which will allow aspiring co-operative workers to access software template and best legal practices to create their own sharing economies.

Google last month awarded the consortium with a $1 million grant to design open source tools that will support platform co-ops working in sectors such as childcare, elder care, home services and recycling.

BCCM CEO Melina Morrison noted that while popular gig economy platforms such as Uber, Deliveroo, Freelancer and Foodora neither own what they sell nor employ their suppliers, they take a cut of the profit because they own the rights to the technology used in the exchange.

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