Jurist Rights group presses governments to strengthen protections for gig workers

[Dadparvar]

Human Rights Watch said Friday that governments negotiating a new global treaty on gig work should strengthen the draft text to ensure fair wages and social security for these workers and protect them from exploitative management.

The call to action was issued alongside a formal briefing submitted to the International Labour Organization (ILO), which is developing the first-ever global standards for work organized through digital platforms like Uber and DoorDash. The process brings together governments, employers, and workers to finalize the treaty text, with negotiations set for 2026.

The platform companies and their workers represent a fundamental dispute over the future of labor. On one side, platform companies often classify workers as independent contractors, a status that typically excludes them from traditional labor protections. On the other, workers and advocates argue that this constitutes a misclassification that denies them their rights. The ILO estimates that platform work has nearly doubled in recent years, affecting hundreds of millions of people globally.

In its submission, Human Rights Watch argues that the current draft treaty needs stronger provisions to close legal gaps. Lena Simet, senior economic justice researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated:

This is a[n] historic opportunity to make sure technology and the economy work for workers, not against them. At the ILO, governments, employers, and workers are writing the rules together, and those rules should protect the people doing the work, not the corporations that shift costs and risks onto their workers.

The rights group’s submission advocates for a global standard that treats platform workers as employees unless proven otherwise, a principle known as the presumption of an employment relationship. This would align platform work with the protections enshrined in core ILO conventions, such as the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

The recommendations, while a significant step towards creating a regulatory framework, are still a partial solution to a deeply entrenched economic model. An ILO convention would create a binding international standard for ratifying countries however its ultimate power will depend on widespread adoption and robust national enforcement.

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