ILO adopts landmark convention on decent work in the platform economy

The International Labour Conference adopted Convention No. 193 concerning Decent Work in the Platform Economy on 12 June, 2026, marking the first global treaty to set binding labour standards for gig economy workers.

The convention was approved by a vote of 406 in favour to 8 against, with 36 abstentions, following its approval by the Standard-Setting Committee on Decent Work in the Platform Economy on 11 June, 2026, in Geneva.

Human Rights Watch described the adoption as a major step toward protecting workers whose jobs are managed through digital labour platforms, addressing long-standing gaps in protections relating to pay, safety and health, social security, algorithmic management and worker classification.

Lena Simet, senior economic justice adviser at Human Rights Watch, said the treaty represented a turning point for millions of platform workers who have been denied labour protections.

According to Simet, governments have recognised that companies cannot use new technologies as a loophole to avoid obligations including fair pay, safe working conditions and social security.

Human Rights Watch called on governments to promptly ratify the convention and implement it through domestic law, while ensuring workers and their organisations are meaningfully involved in implementation and enforcement.

The convention is the outcome of a multi-year process. The ILO Governing Body placed the issue on its agenda in 2023, leading to two rounds of negotiations held in 2025 and 2026.

Human Rights Watch said it had provided input throughout the drafting process, calling for protections in line with international human rights standards.

The platform, or gig, economy has expanded rapidly across sectors including taxi and food delivery, care work and online data tasks. The World Bank has estimated that 435 million people globally earn income through labour platforms.

Workers' organisations have documented that many platform workers face low and unpredictable earnings, unsafe conditions, an absence of social security, and limited recourse when access to work is withdrawn without explanation.

Many companies classify such workers as self-employed or independent contractors, even while controlling core aspects of their work through automated systems governing pay, task allocation, performance monitoring and account suspension.

The new convention requires governments to ensure platform workers are correctly classified, based primarily on how their work is performed and remunerated.

Its scope extends to platform workers in both the formal and informal economy, covering in-person work such as taxi and delivery services, as well as online tasks including data labelling and content moderation.

Certain protections apply irrespective of a worker's classification status. These include freedom of association, collective bargaining, the elimination of forced and child labour, non-discrimination, and the right to a safe working environment.

Other protections are linked to employment status. The treaty requires timely payment of wages, clear information on pay and deductions, and at least the applicable minimum wage for those in an employment relationship, excluding tips.

For workers not classified as employees, the treaty states that governments should consider whether minimum wage provisions ought to apply to them as well.

The convention also addresses access to social security, requiring that platform workers receive terms no less favourable than other workers with comparable employment status.

Under the convention, companies must inform workers about automated systems used to monitor or evaluate their work, including how such systems affect working conditions or access to work.

Workers are also granted the right to request a written explanation and human review of significant automated decisions that adversely affect them, including nonpayment, suspension or deactivation.

The treaty further guarantees safeguards relating to workers' privacy and personal data, alongside protection against discriminatory or unlawful suspension, deactivation or termination.

Tom West, programme director at Privacy International, said platform workers had for too long been subject to algorithmic management tools that used their own data against them.

According to West, the convention establishes a framework of transparency, accountability and data rights intended to address what he described as algorithmic abuse at work.

The treaty also includes specific protections for migrant and refugee platform workers, requiring governments to prevent abuses during recruitment, engagement and employment.

Human Rights Watch said it had documented cases of migrant delivery workers in the Middle East facing recruitment-related debt, dangerous heat exposure, lack of social security, and limited recourse when platforms failed to protect them.

A complementary non-binding recommendation, intended to provide more detailed implementation guidance, was not finalised due to time constraints during the conference, and remains a priority for future negotiations.

Countries voting in favour of the convention included Australia, Mexico, Namibia, Spain, Oman and Indonesia, while the United States and New Zealand voted against it.

Countries that abstained included Argentina, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Libya and Chile. Employers' representatives and some governments had sought more flexible rules during negotiations, while workers' representatives and most governments pushed for stronger protections.

Simet said the convention marked a landmark moment that now needed to translate into real changes in workers' lives, urging governments to ratify and enforce it as artificial intelligence and automated management increasingly shape the nature of work.