The agreement by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on June 13, 2025, to develop binding global standards on decent work in the "platform economy," or gig work, is a positive breakthrough, Human Rights Watch said today. A majority of ILO member states and the workers' delegates backed the decision at the International Labour Conference, an annual meeting that sets international labor standards and agreements on ILO policy. Employer delegates and some government delegates, including from Switzerland, India, and the United States, opposed the move.
"It's a major win that the ILO is advancing binding standards for platform work," said Lena Simet, senior economic justice researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch. "Gig workers long have been denied their rights. Global minimum standards could be a game changer, but only if they cover all workers and adequately address key issues like low and unpredictable pay, widespread misclassification, and opaque algorithms that control workers without accountability."
Weak national laws allow companies to misclassify platform workers as self-employed or independent contractors, despite the nature of their work and the degree of control exercised by companies often meeting the criteria for employee status. This leaves gig workers with limited, if any, labor protections.
Negotiations, which took place between June 2 and 12, and were based on a report prepared by the ILO focused on types and scope of standards as well as how to define both these workers and their companies. The negotiations revealed deep divisions on key elements that will ultimately determine the strength and impact of the standards, which are expected to take the form of a binding treaty and accompanying guidance.
A joint statement by 33 organizations-including Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and Global Social Justice-outlines crucial areas the standards should cover.
The definitions of what constitutes a digital labor platform and who qualifies as a platform worker will be critical, as a narrow scope would exclude millions of workers.
Platform workers often spend 30 to 40 percent of their pay
