BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM
For the first time, gig workers have binding international labour protections.
The International Labour Organization voted June 12 to adopt a convention setting enforceable employment standards for platform workers in ride-hailing and food delivery. Four hundred and six member governments, employer groups, and workers’ representatives voted yes, including China, Japan, Germany, France, and South Africa among them. Eight voted no. The U.S. was one of them.
What does the convention cover?
The protections apply whether a worker is classified as an employee or an independent contractor. That classification has been the target for platform companies: call someone a contractor, and the minimum wage and benefits requirements disappear.
The convention sets minimum standards for occupational safety and health, minimum pay, and protection against unjustified termination or account deactivation. It also sets the first international rules on algorithmic management. Platforms must now disclose how and when automated systems control pay and access to work, something workers have been asking for since this industry came into existence.
Why the stakes are this high
The World Bank estimates between 154 million and 435 million people work through apps. A lot of them earn almost nothing once expenses come out. A 2025 Human Rights Watch report found U.S. platform workers surveyed earned a median of $5.12 per hour after expenses, about 30 percent below the federal minimum wage.
Amanda Brown, vice chair of the ILO’s Workers’ Group, put it directly: “For the first time in the history of international law, the women and men who move our cities, who clean and care in our homes… will be named, recognised and protected by a binding international standard.”
The real test: ratification and enforcement
The ILO can’t enforce anything on its own. Countries have to ratify the convention and write it into domestic law. This process is notoriously slow, political, and far from automatic. The U.S. voted against it. U.S. representative Lorenzo Riboni argued that rigid rules in a fast-moving sector “hinder innovation and harm workers that they intend to help.” Britain and India sat it out. European countries have a better track record on ratification, which is part of why the vote went the way it did.
What enforcement could look like
Where governments do ratify and implement the convention, individual workers may be able to take platform companies to court. The ILO can also receive complaints and pressure governments, but that’s roughly the extent of its reach. Lena Simet, senior advisor on economic justice at Human Rights Watch, called the result a breakthrough and “a floor, not a ceiling.” Governments still need to act: ratify, enforce correct classification, and close gaps for workers misclassified as self-employed. The standard is set. Everything after this is implementation.
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