The ILO Convention on decent work in the the platform economy
Privacy International and global allies are engaging in the drafting process of an ILO Convention and Recommendation concerning decent work in the platform economy.
Key points
- We welcome the commitment to adopt an ILO Convention and a Recommendation concerning decent work in the platform economy.
- However, the current draft does not sufficiently address certain challenges related to the use of automated systems.
- Improvement is needed to protect the privacy and autonomy of all platform workers.
- PI and global allies present shared concerns to shape text to ensure it protects an array of workers’ rights.
Advocacy
Post date
16th October 2025
Background and summary
On 3 July 2025, the General Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) agreed a resolution committing the ILO to adopt a Convention supplemented by a Recommendation concerning decent work in the platform economy following a second discussion on this issue in 2026.
PI welcomes the ILO’s decision as a step in the right direction to protect platform workers who have been at the forefront of new forms of data exploitation in the workplace. The platform economy has created an environment of unprecedented surveillance and monitoring for workers that greatly threatens privacy and other fundamental rights.
While we welcome the ILO’s efforts to try to address the risks to faced by workers in the platform economy, our overall assessment of the texts continues to be that the new drafts of both the Convention and the Recommendation do not sufficiently address the risks posed by the use of automated systems and their impact on workers’ rights.
In particular, PI is encouraging the ILO and its Members to implement measures that will effectively protect the privacy, autonomy and dignity of workers by:
- Ensuring the Convention covers all platform workers by removing provisions which provide for different protections based on classification of employment relationship. This should ensure that the rights and labour conditions of all workers in the platform economy are protected by default from the onset;
- Requiring platforms to maintain a public register of automated systems deployed and provide workers and their representatives with comprehensive information in accessible language about their purpose, design and functioning. Such information should be provided to workers before they are subject to an automated system, and following any update of the systems concerned. Platforms should also provide access to source code and to technical support to help workers understand their algorithms;
- Requiring platforms to provide workers, by default and from the onset, with written explanations, for automated decisions that include personalised information in accessible language, including the key parameters considered and their values. Workers should also have access to review by a human being for any decision that impacts their working conditions or access to work;
- Ensuring the existence of safeguards to protect both workers’ privacy and personal data. Workers rights should be protected in accordance with best practice in international standards and norms;
- Ensuring access to dispute resolution and remedies is available within a reasonable time and without undue delay.
We believe that these changes are required to ensure this new instrument will prevent automated systems from negatively impacting platform workers and help stop a decline in working conditions due to the introduction of automated systems. Digital labour platforms and member states must be legally obliged to adopt and implement clear and effective measures that protect privacy, autonomy and dignity of all workers.
PI’s engagement in the process so far
Our work on the drafting of the Convention and the Recommendation is built on a response to the ILO questionnaire on realizing decent work in the platform economy in 2024, and a joint declaration made by PI and over 30 organisations from across the world ahead of the International Labour Conference (ILC25) in June 2025.
In August 2025, the ILO published an updated draft of the Convention and Recommendation (known as the Brown report). PI examined and provided its analysis of the Brown Report, alongside a joint analysis with CSOs working at the intersection of human rights and tech, groups dedicated to advocating for labour rights, and workers’ representatives from across the world. Together, we identified a shared set of common issues of concern with the Brown Report, as the draft texts did not sufficiently address certain challenges related to the use of automated system, and their impact on workers’ rights.
Following feedback from Member States, representative organizations of employers and workers, the ILO published in March 2026 a revised version of the Convention and the Recommendation (known as the Blue report), which will serve as the basis for a discussion at the International Labour Conference (ILC26) in June 2026.
Our assessment of the Blue Report finds that some protections provided for in the Brown report have been removed and a number of prior concerns we highlighted have not been addressed. There is also an inclusion of new and/or amended provisions which raise additional concerns.
We will be sharing our recommendations with member states and other interested parties as part of the formal drafting process of the Convention and the Recommendation over the coming months, and look forward to following the process up until and during the ILC26 in June 2026.
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