The Initiatives for Workers’ Solidarity in Asia Pacific (IWSAP) welcomes the agreement made at the recently concluded 113th Session of the International Labor Conference (ILC) to negotiate and work towards a binding convention on decent work in the platform economy in 2026 (See: proposed resolutions and conclusions from the ILC). This comes at a crucial time where platform work is becoming more in demand and precarities experienced by workers become more acute.
The IWSAP welcomes the positive decision because it is more urgent than ever to protect the rights of all platform workers in the face of intensifying exploitation. As reflected in the outcomes of IWSAP’s Workers Study Conference in 2024, platform work continues to grow and diversify, leading to high profit for companies. In Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia, motorcycle taxis and delivery riders have become a part of urban life. Despite the promise of flexibility, platform workers are forced to work overtime to reach quotas. Yet, they receive measly income, and do not receive social protection as they are not covered in labor laws. With their exclusion in labor laws, they are also not allowed to form workers’ organizations or become members in unions. This puts them in more precarious working conditions while the apps they work for continue to reap exponential earnings from the labor of others. Similarly, this is the case for Uber drivers in New Zealand who are considered as “freelance partners” – a loophole being taken advantage of by Uber to bypass their responsibilities in giving proper and standardized remuneration to drivers.
With this reality, IWSAP welcomes the effort of the ILO to formally proceed with the pursuit of crafting the binding convention next year, especially along the lines of several crucial points in the resolution made:
- Respect for freedom of association
- Recognition of employee and employer relationship between platform workers and the companies and apps they work for
- Meaningful participation of platform workers in policy spaces and collective bargaining
- Appropriate and livable remuneration that is “at least equivalent to the statutory or negotiated minimum wage”
- Social protection for platform workers who have long been sidelined by institutionalized protection because they are recognized as formal workers
- Occupational safety and health (OSH) protection
- Standardized and humane working hours and rest days
- Inclusion of migrant and refugee platform workers in policies and policy-making
- Access to dispute mechanisms and remedies
We expect that in the process of negotiations, big corporations and digital platforms will double their efforts to dilute the crucial points in the convention and make it advantageous for them. The workers must be vigilant and ensure that we build our ranks to promote workers rights and prevent any diminution of these rights. We call on the ILO and member states to be accountable in ensuring that the demands of platform workers will be heard during the negotiations, guaranteeing meaningful participation in all levels of decision making.
As IWSAP, we join all forces of workers and formations of platform workers in clamoring for change in the world of work. While the resolution on platform work is an initial success, we do not stop here. This is just the initial step in demanding fairness and dignity to those sidelined by policy and profit. Now more than ever, platform workers and other informal workers, formal workers, workers’ associations, unions, and other civil society organizations must join hand in hand in strengthening our ranks to ensure that the process of negotiation for the convention will mirror the long overdue calls of platform workers for equal and just treatment in their areas of work.