The new commitment by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to developing binding global standards on “gig work” is a “positive breakthrough,” according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday.

HRW advocate Lena Simet stated that the ILO’s recent resolution on the issue was a “major win” for “advancing binding standards for platform work.” Simet elaborated that the standards agreed upon must “cover all workers and adequately address key issues like low and unpredictable pay, widespread misclassification, and opaque algorithms that control workers without accountability” in order to be satisfactory. 

On June 13, a majority of ILO member states voted to introduce a global standard on gig work, also known as the platform economy. Switzerland, India and the US, amongst other treaty member states, dissented. 

On June 3, 33 civil society organizations, including HRW, urged the ILO to adopt a commitment to develop such binding global standards. Lena Simet wrote in the joint statement that “platform companies profit enormously from a business model that strips workers of their rights,” and a convention on the rights of gig workers “would send a powerful signal that technological change should not come at the cost of human rights.”

In the joint statement, a number of key issues to cover in the global standards were suggested. Amongst other concerns, these focus areas included data privacy, “effective grievance mechanisms and access to a remedy for workers harmed by algorithmic management” and precarious work conditions. 

The platform economy is a highly uncertain area of work that has faced significant allegations of human rights violations in the past. In the US, HRW reported that “food delivery is the most common form of digital labor, followed by performing household tasks, providing rides, grocery delivery, and package delivery.” As gig workers are legally classified in a grey zone, they are not subject to the legal protections that employees or contractors receive. As such, HRW stated:

Without labor protections or bargaining power, platform workers, particularly those who work full time, are vulnerable to wages below living and minimum wage standards, wage theft, income insecurity, physical injury while on the job, and unexplained firings without meaningful recourse.