Care Regimes and Industrial Relations: A Comparison of the Factors Shaping the Emergence of Digital Platforms in the Domestic Sector in Ireland and Italy

Provision of quality long-term care (LTC) for an increasingly aging population is a challenge that has taken on acute dimensions in Europe. Health and social care experts emphasise the value of ‘aging in place’ approaches, meaning domestic care provision is preferable to residential care wherever this is practical, with policy reflecting this. Despite extensive rhetoric regarding the value of care in society, conditions for care workers are characterised by low pay, precarious working arrangements, and limited development opportunities. At national level, policy by most European governments has broadly speaking sought to outsource care provision to private providers. Continued growth in this segment of the ‘silver economy’ has attracted increased interest from platforms, making care provision an expanding segment of the gig economy. The aim of this paper is to review the growing phenomenon of digital platforms in the provision of care in terms of the impact it has and challenges it creates for trade unions. The paper is based on a comparison between Italy, where the over-65 population already accounts for almost a quarter of the population, and Ireland, where it stands at 15 per cent but is projected to increase rapidly in the coming years. While elderly care in Italy is almost exclusively based on migrant domestic workers employed by families, non-domestic care prevails in Ireland. The entry of digital platforms has been more evident in Italy, where there are 11 platforms for carers, while in Ireland there is only one. Furthermore, digital start-ups prevail in Italy, while in Ireland the only platform detected was created by an existing agency. The paper analyses the two models and looks at their implications in terms of working conditions and industrial relations, concluding with an exploration of possible strategies for unions to take regarding the growing pervasiveness of platforms for care, drawing on policy and legislative tools, including the European Care Strategy and EU Directive on Platform Work.