Valerio de Stefano

Valerio De Stefano, born in 1982, holds a Ph.D. in Law of Business and Commerce from Bocconi University, in Milan. His current research activity focuses in particular on casual forms of work, including on-call and zero-hour contracts, marginal part-time, crowd work and “work on-demand.” In June 2014, he joined the International Labour Office as a Technical Officer in the Inclusive Labour Markets, Labour Relations and Working Conditions Branch (INWORK) of the WORKQUALITY Department, where he mainly carries out research about the regulation of non-standard forms of work across the world, such as temporary work, temporary agency work and other contractual arrangements involving multiple parties, disguised employment relationships, dependent self-employment and part-time work.

Implications of antitrust law for platform cooperativism
Valerio will discuss the potential implications of antitrust law for platform cooperativism. Although his analysis is not country specific, he focuses on the competition laws in the EU. If platform cooperatives become successful, they will raise wages for on-demand economy workers. The concern would be that they could then be subject to attack under antitrust or competition laws. He will argue that in fact, platform coops should not be subject to antitrust laws, and that further we should reconsider antitrust immunities in order to encompass workers in the on-demand economy.