The GDPoweR project invites researchers, policymakers, trade unionists, and activists to submit papers for its final conference on Workers’ Data, Collective Bargaining, and the Platform Economy in Warsaw in September 2025.
The conference will present the project’s findings and explore how digital platforms collect and use worker data, and how this data can be leveraged for fairer collective bargaining agreements in the gig economy. We welcome submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Algorithmic management and collective bargaining: The impact of digital surveillance, automated decision-making, and algorithmic control on worker rights and collective action.
- Workers’ data as a tool for bargaining: How access to personal data (e.g., work logs, pay calculations) can be used to negotiate better working conditions and ensure compliance with agreements.
- Challenges in implementing collective agreements in the gig economy: Case studies of existing agreements, barriers to enforcement, and strategies for overcoming resistance from platforms.
- Trade union and activist strategies: The role of social partners, worker collectives, and grassroots movements in advocating for fairer conditions in digital labour markets.
- Comparative perspectives on industrial relations in platform work: Lessons from different EU countries on regulating platform companies and strengthening worker representation.
- GDPR and worker empowerment: The legal and practical implications of leveraging GDPR for industrial relations research and collective bargaining.
Submissions
Please submit an extended abstract (approx. 400 words) along with:
- Paper title
- Name(s) of author(s)
- Affiliation(s)
- Contact email of the presenting author
to Zuzanna Kowalik (zuzanna.kowalik@ibs.org.pl) by 16 May, 2025. Abstracts should include the following sections: Methodology, data, major findings and keywords.
Additional information can be found here. The Call for Papers can be downloaded here.
