"UN labour organisation sets first global standards for gig workers", 12 June 2026

… The International Labour Organization agreed ​… to adopt the first binding employment standards for gig workers in sectors such as ride-hailing and food ‌delivery, potentially giving them rights on pay, safety and social benefits.

The standards, however, still need ratification by governments, and then enforcement…

While the convention recognises that platform workers ​may be employees or independent contractors, it establishes, for the first time, a set of protections that apply regardless of ​employment status, including measures on occupational safety and health, minimum remuneration, and protection against unjustified termination or deactivation. ⁠However, how those protections are applied will depend on employment status.

A total of 406 members including the governments of China, Japan, Germany, France ​and South Africa voted in favour of the employment standards convention while eight, including the United States and New Zealand, voted against. Another 36, ​including Britain and India, abstained. Members of the U.N. agency include governments, employers and workers.

U.S. representative Lorenzo Riboni told delegates the U.S. did not support a prescriptive binding convention in fast-evolving areas of the economy…

The World Bank estimates that the number of app-based gig workers globally is somewhere between ​154 million and 435 million people.

Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and trade unions, say that the widespread classification of workers as independent contractors allows companies ‌to avoid ⁠paying the minimum wage and providing benefits.

… Amanda Brown, vice chair of the ILO's Workers' Group, said the deal was a landmark moment for platform workers worldwide and a response to years of documented abuse and exploitation.

… The convention also sets, for the first time, international rules concerning algorithmic management, meaning that platforms must disclose how and when automated systems ⁠are being ​used to manage pay and access to work…