Demille and the gig economy
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 20 April 2021
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2016 when producer Georgia first met him, Demille was a cycle courier in his early twenties, taking his company to a tribunal over better working conditions. He was fired-up, political, and excited about a case he would go on to win.
For the past five years, Georgia and Demille have been meeting and recording.
Demille’s story is one of being young and trying to stay afloat in the gig economy; of resilience and hope and trying to find control over his city and life.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From the BBC World Service. |
| 0:02.2 | He said he was hecker. |
| 0:03.3 | So many millions of dollars. |
| 0:04.5 | It's got to be North Korea. |
| 0:05.5 | How in the world did this happen? |
| 0:07.0 | The Lazarus Heist. |
| 0:08.3 | Episode 1 is available now. |
| 0:11.8 | Hi there, I'm Ed Butler and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:16.6 | Today, we're giving you a remarkable tale, charted over five years, the life of a British gig worker. |
| 0:23.5 | Because when you're working in the gig economy, don't have sick pay, holiday pay, nothing. |
| 0:28.3 | You're not entitled to a national minimum wage or anything like that. It is solely on you. |
| 0:32.4 | Yes, we are describing what insecure and informal delivery work really looks like in one of the world's |
| 0:38.7 | financial capitals. That's here on Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:44.3 | The gig economy is transforming the world of work, no doubt about it, from Uber to DoorDash, |
| 0:50.0 | Amazon to Task Rabbit. All kinds of new tech firms are offering hundreds of millions of workers around the world. |
| 0:56.1 | Peasmeal jobs, delivering food, taxi services, care or cleaning work. For many people, it has opened up new, |
| 1:03.0 | flexible working opportunities. For many others, though, it's a hand-to-mouth existence involving long hours, |
| 1:09.1 | low pay, and virtually no job security. |
| 1:11.8 | Five years ago, one BBC producer, her name's Georgia Cat. |
| 1:15.2 | She started recording the life of a gig worker here in London. |
| 1:19.9 | It is an amazing listen, charting those five years. |
| 1:23.6 | First, I asked Georgia herself how she chanced upon this individual. |
... |
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