Digital Labor-Sphere: Delivery Workers Resistance in Turkey

This chapter explores labor resistance and solidarity of gig economy workers in Turkey, focusing on how delivery workers organize through digital platforms. The resistance of Yemeksepeti moto-couriers requires an understanding of the increasing role of communication tools in labor mobilization under the precarious conditions of digital capitalism. Despite previous research focusing on control mechanisms and micro-political resistance, there is a limited insight into how digital tools are adopted in collective action in such fragmented settings in the context of local and authoritarian neo-liberal regime. We drew on interviews with lead workers and union experts and examined social media posts of different actors actively engaging with the protest. Our findings suggest that digital platforms facilitate workers sharing grievances, coordinating actions, and building collective identity and solidarity. However, misinformation, inter-union rivalry, lack of cohesive leadership, state’s legal interventions, and the company’s surveillance techniques prevent effective organizing. In the process of mobilization, forms of struggle and solidarity that integrate digital and face-to-face practices emerge. Therefore, digital platforms hold promising potential for worker mobilization but need to be complemented with context-specific organizing strategies and stronger institutional frameworks to overcome structural barriers.