Union action in digital platform companies in Uruguay: The case of the company ‘PedidosYa’

Abstract In recent years, Uruguay has experienced a growing increase in service work that is typical of informational and digital capitalism. The case of work on digital platforms is a paradigmatic example of the changes in work modalities in the country. These platforms present informal, flexible work modalities that must meet goals or objectives within a work process measured and controlled by algorithms. This work aims to contribute to the understanding of union experiences developed in a service platform company. We focus on the collective experience of the Union of PedidosYa Workers to shed light on the strategies employed within the union movement in relation to these non-traditional workers. Our research enabled us to identify an array of difficulties for union organisation in these sectors, ranging from the institutional framework in which forms of collective action are developed to the specific characteristics of the forms of work organisation.