Felipe Diez Prat
Post-doctoral researcher
Felipe Diez Prat holds a PhD in Sociology and Anthropology from the Complutense University of Madrid, with a dissertation titled “My Company Is My Body: The Case of Delivery Workers in the Platform Economy.” He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Concepción in Chile and a Master’s degree in Advanced Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the Complutense University of Madrid.
Between 2017 and 2018, he worked as a delivery rider for the platform Deliveroo, where, together with other colleagues, he co-founded the union platform RidersxDerechos. Through this collective, they have exposed labour rights violations within the platform model, algorithmic control, the abuse of bogus self-employment, and the flexibilisation and precarisation of labour relations. He has taken part in numerous seminars, conferences, and congresses on the future of work and the platform economy, and he is the author of several articles and reports on the state of the matter in Spain and Europe. This experience enabled him to be part of the working group that participated in the social dialogue surrounding the 2020 “Rider Law.”
Since 2022, he has been a member of the Observatory of Work, Algorithms and Society, an organisation that aims to combine academic research with political action. He is currently its president and coordinates the project “RidersxRegularización,” which focuses on uncovering the connections between algorithmic organisation and informal labour in delivery platforms.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Departament de Sociologia
Campus UAB- Edifici B
08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona)
Spain
Areas of specialization
His main line of research focuses on the algorithmic organisation of labour and the new business strategies designed to flexibilise regulatory frameworks. He has contributed to advancing the practical application of the concept of “flexicurity,” as well as to the study of algorithmic control and its implications for the processes of subjectivation among workers.
He is currently involved in the Data4Workers research project, part of ISOC, conducted simultaneously in Switzerland, Spain, Chile, and Uruguay. This project combines various methodological approaches to access the data that platforms collect about workers and their activity, with the aim of analysing its impacts and exploring pathways for collective organisation.
Selected bibliography
Diez Prat, F., Corredor Álvarez, F., & Soto Aliaga, N. (2024). Espacios de gobernanza y control algorítmico en las plataformas de reparto. Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 28(1), 17–48. https://doi.org/10.1344/sn2024.28.41537
Diez, F. (2022). Las plataformas de reparto y la “ley rider” en España: Historia, seguimiento y análisis. Observatorio de Trabajo, Algoritmos y Sociedad. https://observa-tas.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Las-plataformas-de-reparto-y-la-ley-rider.-pdf.pdf
Diez Prat, F., Lerín Ibarra, D., & Ranz Martín, R. (2021). Análisis de la presión política y social de las plataformas digitales de reparto. Servicio de Estudios Confederales (UGT). https://www.ugt.es/sites/default/files/analisis_presion_politica_social_plataformas_reparto-informe_con_autor_0.pdf
Diez Prat, F., Roselló Gomez-Lobo, J. D., Corral Juan, A. M., & Ranz Martín, R. (2020). Con este modelo no habrá futuro: La explotación laboral en las plataformas digitales de reparto. Servicio de Estudios Confederales (UGT). https://www.ugt.es/sites/default/files/informe_no_habra_futuro_para_impresion.pdf
Diez Prat, F., & Ranz Martín, R. (2020). Mi experiencia como repartidor de Deliveroo y el intento por articular nuestra lucha desde la estructura sindical de UGT. Teknokultura. Revista de Cultura Digital y Movimientos Sociales, 17(2), 187–193. https://doi.org/10.5209/tekn.69532
