GENEVA: The first-ever international agreement on safeguarding digital platform workers in the gig economy was adopted on Friday at the UN´s International Labour Organisation.
The Decent Work in the Platform Economy Convention is aimed at extending labour protections to hundreds of millions of people worldwide who work through digital platforms, in areas like food delivery and car services.
The convention applies to “all digital labour platforms” and “all digital platform workers... whether they are in the formal or informal economy”, according to the text adopted by ILO members.
Until now, labour practices have struggled to keep pace with the dramatic shifts in the way people work.
The World Bank estimated in 2023 there were up to 435 million online gig workers around the globe who had largely fallen outside regular labour protections.
Companies behind the apps control the gig work via algorithms that assign tasks, set pay, evaluate performance and even fire workers.
Despite largely controlling the tasks and pay, the platforms typically classify the workers as independent contractors rather than employees.
This allows them in many cases to ignore things like minimum wage requirements, workplace safety and access to social security.
“The ILO now has the first convention that focuses on the impact of digitalisation in the world of work,” said the UN labour agency´s chief Gilbert Houngbo.
