Abstract
This paper explores how migrant gig workers in Melbourne exercise agency to earn and sustain their livelihoods. Migrant gig workers do not only experience extortion by digital labour platforms such as Uber, DoorDash and Hungry Panda, but they also face various challenges, such as precarious working conditions due to their visa status and algorithmic control of their activities. All these factors constrain migrant gig workers’ autonomy and bargaining power. Consequently, migrant gig workers have fewer opportunities to exercise their agency. Within this context, drawing on in-depth interviews with 39 food delivery workers, 18 ridesharing drivers, seven government and non-government stakeholders, this paper contributes to the literature on migration, digital labour platforms and resistance showing how migrant gig workers are able to utilise both covert and overt resistance strategies to protest platforms’ exploitative mechanisms.