12/06/2026
Historic Victory for Platform Workers: ILO Adopts Decent Work in the Platform Economy Convention, 2026 (No. 193)
Today marks a historic milestone for millions of platform workers across the world. The International Labour Conference ( ) of the International Labour Organization ( ) has adopted the Decent Work in the Platform Economy Convention, 2026 (No. 193), establishing the first global binding labour standard dedicated to protecting the rights of digital platform workers.
For many years, platform work was described through terms that obscured the reality of labour—"gigs," "tasks," "rides," "services," or entrepreneurial arrangements allegedly outside the scope of labour protections. Yet the truth remained undeniable: workers delivering food, transporting passengers, cleaning homes, providing care, moderating content, and performing countless other forms of platform-mediated work have always been workers. Their work deserves recognition, rights, dignity, and protection.
The adoption of Convention No. 193 is the result of more than a decade of organizing, advocacy, research, and dialogue involving workers, trade unions, academics, policymakers, governments, and international organizations. It reflects the collective determination of platform workers worldwide who have fought tirelessly for fairness and justice in the digital economy.
As Shaik Salauddin Vice-President for South Asia of the International Alliance of App-Based Transport Workers (IAATW), and Co-Founder and National General Secretary of the Indian Federation Of App Based Transport Workers (IFAT) and the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU), we welcome this landmark achievement. It is a proud moment to have contributed, alongside trade unions and worker organizations globally, to the efforts that made this historic Convention possible.
Among the Convention's most significant achievements are:
• Article 3: Requires Member States to respect, promote, and realize fundamental principles and rights at work in the platform economy.
• Article 4: Establishes preventive duties regarding occupational accidents, occupational diseases, and other work-related injuries.
• Article 5: Guarantees workers the right to remove themselves from situations posing an imminent and serious danger to life or health without suffering undue consequences.
• Article 6: Requires protection against violence and harassment, including online abuse and harassment by clients and customers.
• Article 9: Calls for proper classification of platform workers based on the actual facts of the working relationship, helping prevent misclassification.
• Article 10: Guarantees timely and full payment of remuneration to all platform workers, regardless of employment status.
• Article 12: Ensures access to social security protection on terms no less favourable than those applicable to other workers with the same employment status.
• Articles 13–15: Introduce groundbreaking protections against the risks of algorithmic management, making this the first binding international labour standard to directly regulate automated management systems.
• Article 15: Provides workers with the right to receive written explanations of automated decisions and access to human review of certain decisions.
• Article 16: Establishes strong protections for workers' personal data, including rights of access, correction, and erasure.
• Article 17: Prohibits discriminatory or otherwise unlawful account suspensions, deactivations, and terminations.
• Article 20: Requires measures to protect migrant and refugee platform workers from abuse and exploitation.
• Article 21: Guarantees access to safe, fair, and effective dispute resolution mechanisms and remedies.
The adoption of Convention No. 193 represents a turning point in the future of work. It confirms that technological innovation cannot come at the expense of workers' rights and that labour protections must evolve alongside changing forms of employment.
Today, platform workers everywhere can celebrate a historic victory. The task ahead is to ensure effective ratification, implementation, and enforcement of these standards so that the promise of decent work becomes a reality for every platform worker.
Proud to have played a part, supporting the ITUC secretariat Amanda Brown, Mónica Viviana Tepfer, Ruwan Subasinghe and Jeffrey Vogt, Monika M. and Biju Mathew workers around the world in getting to this result.
Shaik Salauddin
Vice-President, South Asia Region, International Alliance of App-Based Transport Workers (IAATW)
Co-Founder & National General Secretary, Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT)
Founder President, Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU)
