You may be interested in these two articles from the iLabour Project based at the Oxford Internet Institute which investigate protest in the gig economy.
Antagonism beyond employment: how the ‘subordinated agency’ of labour platforms generates conflict in the remote gig economy – Socio-economic Review, by Alex Wood and Vili Lehdonvirta https://academic.oup.com/ser/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ser/mwab016/6375544
Abstract: This article investigates why gig economy workers who see themselves as self-employed freelancers also engage in collective action traditionally associated with regular employment. Using ethnographic evidence on the remote gig economy in North America, the UK and the Philippines, we argue that labour platforms increase the agency of workers to contract with clients and thus reduce the risk of false self-employment in terms of the worker–client relationship. However, in doing so, platforms create a new source of subordination to the platform itself. We term this phenomenon ‘subordinated agency’ and demonstrate that it entails a ‘structured antagonism’ with platforms that manifests in three areas: fees, competition and worker voice mechanisms. Subordinated agency creates worker desire for representation, greater voice and even unionization towards the platform, while preserving entrepreneurial attitudes towards clients.
Dynamics of contention in the gig economy: Rage against the platform, customer or state? – New Technology, Work and Employment by Alex Wood, Nick Martindale and Vili Lehdonvirta https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ntwe.12216
Abstract: Protest in the gig economy has taken many forms and targets (platforms, customers and state officials). However, researchers are yet to adequately account for this diversity. We use a European survey of Upwork and PeoplePerHour platform workers to investigate worker orientation towards different forms of protest. Results reveal that worker anger, dependence and digital communication shape contention in the remote gig economy. Support for collective organisation is associated with anger at platforms as well as their dependence on the platform and communication with other workers. Individual action against clients is associated with anger and communication but not dependence. Support for state regulation is associated only with anger but not dependence or communication. We conclude that the relational approach entailed by Mobilisation Theory can aid explanation in the gig economy by shedding light on the dynamic process by which solidarity and dependence alter the perceived cost/benefits of particular remedies to injustice.
A summary of the research can be found here: https://ilabour.oii.ox.ac.uk/why-do-platform-workers-protest/