“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”

― Alice Walker, n.d.

The emergence of cooperative platforms signifies a meaningful evolution in the gig economy. In contrast to traditional platforms where workers are treated as disposable, cooperative platforms reclaim agency by enabling platform workers to collectively own and govern the platform. Rather than accepting their lack of bargaining power as inevitable, these workers reshape the rules of the game - proving that alternative, worker-driven models are both possible and necessary.

While there have been many legislative initiatives have emerged to address the power asymmetries of the platform economy, the pushback against platform power has not remained limited to a legislative battle. Platform cooperatives represent a complementary bottom-up movement. These worker-owned models distinguish themselves through democratic governance and their commitment to social and often environmental sustainability. Platform cooperativism offers an alternative to the commodification of labour, challenging power asymmetries by embedding values such as fairness, transparency, and self-management.

This research verifies the hypothesis that cooperative platforms, due to their decentralised nature, can counterbalance the concentrated power of traditional platforms and foster greater transparency, improved working conditions, and better earnings. First, the article develops a theoretical framework exploring how cooperative platforms function as counter-mechanisms to platform power. Secondly, as there is little empirical research on platform cooperatives, the research includes an empirical analysis of a selection of four traditional and six cooperative platforms to enable a comparison. The study specifically examines whether the selected cooperative platforms demonstrate 1) greater transparency in their terms and conditions, 2) better working conditions (focusing on algorithmic management, geo-tracking, and consumer rating systems) and 3) better quality of earnings when compared to traditional platforms.

Preliminary findings reveal mixed results. While cooperatives have the potential to promote more ethical practices, they often trail behind traditional platforms in terms of transparency - possibly due to weaker regulatory obligations or less professionalised structures. Still, by redistributing power to workers, cooperative platforms challenge the profit-maximising incentives of traditional models and present an opportunity for a fairer and sustainable gig economy. To achieve this end, this worker-led movement should be complemented by legal and policy initiatives that explicitly recognize the benefits of platform cooperatives and support their development. This form of legal support seems essential to create an environment where cooperative platforms can not only survive but thrive.