Work sucks, I know: Instagram as a platform for young people's labour grievances

Abstract

In Summer 2020, young workers from prominent Vancouver, British Columbia-based cafes, restaurants and breweries took to Instagram to air grievances about their workplaces. Precarious and violent working conditions in the food industry are business as usual in BC, which is reflected in the stories these workers shared of wage theft, unsafe workplaces, erratic scheduling, harassment and sexual violence. Held within the context of widespread layoffs in the industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these workers built communities of complaint and, in some cases, fundamentally changed the ownership and operations of their workplaces. To do this, these young workers navigated a complex web of digital/physical spaces and relationships to challenge abuses in their workplaces. By centering their complaints in the interrelationship between complaint, digital political protest, economic grievance and known forms of worker organizing, this paper explores how young people leveraged their grievances through their digital networks to influence their economic relationships and create safer workplaces for themselves and other workers.