4.3 The mammoth, multi-faceted task of organising app-based transport workers in Indonesia The value of the online ride-hailing market in Indonesia is worth around US$18 billion, or 72 per cent of the region’s to­tal market value, but transport workers are locked out of the wealth they create thanks to exploitative working practices. By Randy Mulyanto 1 In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic the task of organising Indone­sia’s app-based transport workers has become ever-more urgent. In 2019, there were an estimated 2.5 million drivers working for Go-Jek, one of the biggest ride-hailing apps in Indonesia, with over nine mil­lion working for its rival Grab throughout South-East Asia. Even be­fore the pandemic, they faced low pay and exploitative working prac­tices, but Covid has left these drivers – like most workers in the informal economy – with a drastically reduced income or without any income at all, thanks to tough lockdown measures and scant govern­ment assistance. But a new report outlines not only the plight of Indonesia’s app­based transport workers but also the various strategies labour activ­ists are using to organise them – and with which workers are organ­ising themselves. Resisting Exploitation by Algorithms: Drivers’ Contestation of App-based Transport in Indonesia by Fahmi Panim­bang, Syarif Arifin, Sugeng Riyadi and Dina Septi Utami, published by 1 Randy Mulyanto is an Indonesian freelance journalist who was previ­ously based in Taipei. Section 4/ 4.3 57