The future is collective and the collectives are the future
The evolution towards the network company and the resulting fragmentation of work increases the number of self-employed persons with intermittent relationships between various employers and with their potential co-workers. In this context, «collectives of the self-employed» emerge in contrast to the narrative that self-employed workers are isolated from each other. These collectives organise fights against algorithms, fights for labour rights, pool material and digital resources and even present themselves to the market under a unified brand without being a company. As emerging forms of organisation, they face challenges regarding their recognition as actors in social dialogue and are even accused of acting as cartels under the prism of free competition. Although their current forms are probably not the definitive forms, we can intuit that the «collectives of the self-employed» have and will have a relevant role in defining the ways of working and living in the future.
ODS
Ouishare Connector for Spain and Latin America. In 2011 he founded the blog Consumo Colaborativo [Collaborative Consumption], and since then he has been considered one of the leading figures of the platform economy in Spanish. He recently published the book El trabajo ya no es lo que era: nuevas formas de trabajar, otras maneras de vivir `[Work Is Not What It Used to Be: New Ways of Working, Other Ways of Living] (Conecta, 2020). He works as an explorer, consultant and disseminator in the sphere of the platform economy and is currently focusing on the future of work, the impact of the digital platforms in cities, and regulatory innovations.