In much of Asia, gig work is highly individualised, and algorithmic management fragments the labour process, diminishing workers’ structural power. Couriers and riders often work gruelling hours, driving many to focus on legislative reforms for better protection. Recent waves of strikes—particularly in Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong during the 2019–2020 COVID-19 period—demonstrated riders’ collective action capabilities.*

However, the harsh conditions of gig work, including health risks and isolation, create tension between the need to build organisational foundations and the urgency of daily survival. A competitive platform economy continues to limit workers’ marketplace power, making it difficult to recruit and retain riders who face constant uncertainty.

Experienced rider leaders increasingly recognise that change requires deep organising rather than relying solely on mutual aid or awareness campaigns. Protests and campaigns raise visibility but rarely result in lasting change. Organised groups are shifting toward building associational power by uniting and sharing experiences, fostering a worker-led movement that emphasises internal capacity-building for long-term struggles.

However, building transnational solidarity requires moving beyond surface-level exchanges into more meaningful and sustainable movement-building.

Institutional Containment and Insufficient Support Systems

In Asia, industrial unions often dominate the labour movement but are generally disconnected from platform workers’ needs. Male-dominated structures and traditional organising methods make it difficult to address platform-specific issues, such as non-conventional occupational safety and health concerns and gender-based violence.

In countries where freedom of association is not inherently guaranteed, a common organising strategy is to encourage couriers and riders to register informal labour organisations, such as associations. While this approach helps workers create an organisational structure, it often replicates a shallow organising model focused merely on obtaining registration papers.

When organising is promoted by NGOs, organisers—often young and affiliated with these organisations—must establish trust within this new worker community, a process that requires time and adaptability. Due to high staff turnover, this trust-building effort must be repeatedly renewed in an under-resourced environment with rapidly changing staff.

The support system for these workers is inadequate. Research on gig work focuses heavily on working conditions, frequently overlooking organising practices and the internal dynamics necessary for sustained labour movements. Governments also tend to bypass organised platform workers when considering their policies. As a result, organised groups find themselves with limited academic support and facing governmental indifference.

The Challenge of Engaging with Platforms

Despite increasing public awareness of riders’ issues, platform companies continue to deny employment relationships with riders to evade legal and social responsibilities. The lack of unity and institutional power among riders further hinders direct engagement with these companies. Even in countries with relatively high institutional power, such as Indonesia and South Korea, platform companies resist recognising riders’ organisations as legitimate bargaining partners, forcing riders to rely on government channels instead.

In response, organised groups work with policymakers to advocate for change, yet progress in legislative efforts remains limited, often substituting for more confrontational actions. These symbolic engagements highlight the urgent need for powerful, cohesive organisations with a committed membership base.

To overcome these challenges, riders need a robust organisational foundation that compels both platform companies and governments to negotiate. Organising efforts must transcend individual demands to secure rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, essential defences against algorithmic control.

The Limits of Policy Advocacy

Mainstream perspectives, often promoted by liberal think tanks and media, tend to prioritise legislative changes, such as Singapore’s recent platform labour bill. While these are steps forward, they often originate from government initiatives with minimal involvement from organised groups, leaving workers in a defensive rather than proactive role. Additionally, government-proposed policies offer contradictory and piecemeal protections, as seen in the Singaporean bill—whose real impacts riders are still evaluating—or Malaysia’s partial social security coverage for gig workers, which fails to address the broader needs of these workers. The bureaucratic, compartmentalised approach from policymakers limits the scope of comprehensive reforms. Without stronger organisational power, organised groups find themselves seizing “low-hanging fruit” rather than pushing for long-lasting change.

Activism that prioritises policy advocacy and stakeholder engagement, while significant, often falls short of the deep organising needed for sustained power. This trend appears across the region, both in countries with historically low unionisation rates—such as Thailand and Cambodia, where riders remain sceptical of formal labour organisations—and in countries with stronger union traditions, like Indonesia and Taiwan.

Deep Organising is the Path Forward

Collective action among riders has evolved, demonstrating a growing understanding of systemic issues and a readiness to organise for meaningful change. However, organisational constraints, scepticism toward unionism, and restrictive laws continue to inhibit sustainable organising. Even where freedom of association is protected, such as in Taiwan, organisers struggle to recruit and retain a strong, active membership. Without an empowered base, progress remains limited.

Looking ahead, our goals must remain clear and strategic. While legal and legislative changes are necessary, our primary objective should be empowering workers and building a robust, worker-driven transnational movement. Lasting change requires “whole worker” engagement—connecting workers’ lives, communities, and social movements. Key elements of deep organising include a person-by-person approach, building commitment among riders, and engaging them in campaigns that emphasise active participation over symbolic actions.

While app-based organising has, to a certain extent, been successful in using digital platforms and messaging apps to creatively build connections among otherwise isolated and dispersed workers, deep organising means that organisers prioritise interpersonal interactions like one-on-one conversations—a basic yet fundamental organising method that chat groups or Zoom calls cannot replace. Some groups have already facilitated this deep engagement by organising social activities, hosting local gatherings at common pick-up spots, or providing workers with much-needed shelter and rest spaces.

Deep organising demands that organisers prioritise leadership development and democratic processes. Workers become the real driving force behind the campaign rather than playing supporting roles in policy advocacy led by NGO staff. For instance, high participation from workers—not only in collective actions but also in regular meetings where they voice opinions and make decisions through working groups—makes it hard for companies to ignore their collective power. Since platform work dilutes economic power, riders must also build political strength and unity that extends beyond the economy.

This is a global struggle, and we may need to rethink our approach to engaging domestic politicians and elected officials in each country. Platform companies operate across borders, with companies like Grab seen as strategic economic allies by governments, complicating local organising efforts. The global nature of these platforms means riders must navigate both local labour laws and transnational strategies. To achieve collective worker power, we must address these global-local dynamics through a unified, cross-border base of workers. We can only create the powerful movement necessary for labour justice in the global digital economy through deep organising and transnational movement-building.

*In October 2024, the Just Economy and Labor Institute, where I work, co-hosted a regional conference on the platform economy with the Asia Monitor Resource Center in Bangkok, Thailand. This event featured a one-day workshop focused on gender issues, followed by a three-day conference that brought together rider groups, activists, and researchers supporting organising efforts for platform workers across more than ten countries in Asia. The conference concluded with a social dialogue event, where international participants observed the Thai rider communities engaging with policymakers to advocate for their demands. Facilitating discussions among riders sharing their organising strategies was deeply insightful, as it highlighted the common struggles and progress they face. This article reflects on shared strategies and challenges across the region, drawing from the conference as well as my five years of experience working with riders.