Unions secure New ILO Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy

Workers who are allocated work through automated systems frequently work without employment contracts, social protection or the right to organise. Platform companies have systematically created and exploited gaps in national labour law to misclassify workers as "independent contractors," stripping them of fundamental rights. This is not because of technology – it’s because platform corporations have ‘innovated’ to find ways to undermine labour standards.

Among those  exposed to the harms of platformisation are workers in the care economy. Home-based care workers, support workers in institutional settings, nurses, and allied health professionals are increasingly seeing their work mediated through digital platforms that fragment care into tasks, undermine continuity of care, and reduce workers to on-demand labour. The new convention - C193 -  sends an important signal that these workers — overwhelmingly women — cannot be denied protections that all workers are entitled to.

The Convention provides a critical foundation for ending the misclassification of workers and specifies that protections, including minimum wage, social protection, and occupational safety and health rights apply to all platform workers, regardless of their employment classification. Algorithmic management is also addressed in a binding international instrument for the first time. Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are recognised as a fundamental right of all workers.

However, the convention is not as strong as we had hoped. The convention faced fierce opposition from employer groups and from governments determined to protect the business models of platform companies over the rights of workers. The United States and New Zealand governments voted against adoption, and several countries, including the United Kingdom and India abstained — a reminder that ratification will be challenging in many countries. The convention was weakened through the process of attempting to reach consensus, and the concessions extracted by a blocking minority diminished what could have been a stronger instrument. Yet, workers received strong support from several governments, most notably Brazil, Australia, Colombia, Mexico, Canada and, in several areas, Africa (as a block) and the EU.

Most significantly, the protracted and difficult negotiations meant that the accompanying Recommendation was not adopted at this Conference. This is a setback. The Recommendation was designed to provide the additional, practical guidance that would give the Convention its full force — covering in greater detail how protections should be applied.

PSI calls on the ILO Governing Body to ensure that the Recommendation remains a priority item for a future International Labour Conference. Given the pace of change in the platform economy and the growing evidence of harm to workers, there may also be an opportunity to revisit and strengthen its provisions before adoption. We will continue to work with our affiliates, the ITUC, and allies across the global labour movement to make that happen.

Once the convention is open for ratification, PSI will encourage affiliates to advocate with their governments for formal ratification.