The International Labour Organization kicked off its concluding discussions Monday in Geneva regarding the first binding employment standards for digital platforms that provide ride-sharing, food delivery, and online commerce services.
The primary disagreement revolves around whether benefits like minimum wage and protections including healthcare, sick leave, and social security should extend to every platform worker, or if coverage should depend on their classification as employees versus independent contractors.
The discussions will also tackle transparency in automated management systems, including how algorithmic technology determines compensation, distributes work assignments, and evaluates worker performance.
ILO members, who initiated preliminary discussions about platform worker employment last year, aim to finalize binding regulations and recommendations before next week concludes.
Any agreement from the U.N. agency, which advocates for international labor rights, requires consensus among governments, employers, and workers within the ILO framework.
The negotiations are anticipated to be challenging, with some members potentially seeking to dilute the language.
The U.S., China, Argentina and India prefer a more flexible approach, while the European Union, Brazil and Mexico advocate for enhanced protections, according to Lena Simet, senior advisor on economic justice at Human Rights Watch.
Labor advocacy groups and trade unions argue that the common practice of classifying workers as independent contractors enables companies to avoid minimum wage obligations and responsibilities like healthcare, sick leave and social security contributions.
“There is a serious problem with transparency and accountability around how algorithms are used to determine pay and performance,” said Simet.
The International Organisation of Employers, representing approximately 50 million companies globally, has stated that any framework should maintain flexibility, permitting countries to modify regulations according to their national situations.
Ride-hailing company Uber supported this position.
“It should enable countries to provide meaningful protections while preserving the flexibility, choice, and independence that many workers value,” an Uber spokesperson said.
The International Trade Union Confederation, the primary global organization representing workers, is advocating for a robust, binding convention. “Technological innovation cannot be used as an excuse to weaken democratic labour rights,” its General Secretary Luc Triangle told Reuters.
