“Decent work in the platform economy” is one of the items the ILO will discuss during its upcoming 113th International Labour Conference from 2 to 13 June 2025 – a first in the ILO’s history. In deciding to put the item on the agenda 2 years ago, the ILO Governing Body noted that “[p]roper classification of the employment relationship was fundamental to the application of fundamental rights and other standards, as platform workers who were misclassified were deprived of the most basic labour protections.” This was a critical point of contention among countries, employers and workers at the ILO, and thus brought the item on this year’s agenda. Proper classification of employment relationships remains a challenge, not just for the ILO. So, what exactly is the problem and how can we solve it?
The consequences of classification are serious. In a report published this May called the “Gig Trap”, Human Rights Watch highlighted that the gig economy is “a labor model that traps people in poverty”. The gig economy offers a specious choice: you may either have the freedom to work on your own terms – whenever you want, however you want – or security of labour protections. Consider Deliveroo, for example, which is a food delivery company (like Thuisbezorgd in The Netherlands, DoorDash in the US, and Swiggy in India). It listed its stock on the London Stock Exchange in 2021, for which it published its prospectus...
Tensions between India and Pakistan are well-known, including accusations over water sharing under the Indus Waters Treaty. China, while not a party to that treaty, controls the upper reaches of r...