Collective bargaining on digital platforms and data stewardship

The pandemic is shaping lives across Asia and it will change the social and economic conditions for the coming decade. Analysing the social, economic, political, geostrategic, cultural and societal implications of this unprecedented crisis and developing visions for the time after COVID-19, we invited scholars and practitioners to work on a paper series to envision aspects of a future of work in Asia that benefits workers.

The future of the digital economy and its workers play a tremendous role in the development of the countries in Asia. With Asia at the forefront of digital transformation, we still have much to understand when it comes to the implications of digitalized economies. How is digitalization transforming companies and value chains? Who creates, generates, captures, controls and uses data? What is relevant workers’ data and how does it impact the future of work? How can workers and trade unions regain control over their data and use it effectively?

As part of our research paper series on Shaping the Future of Workers in Asia, Astha Kapoor explores the idea of community data rights in the platform economy and why collective bargaining on data is imperative for meaningful negotiation with technology companies. In this paper she develops models that allow workers to develop structures to increase digital self-determination and support bargaining in a data-driven economy.