How Latin America Is Regulating Gig Work: Precarious Labour Conditions Persist

An analysis of labour and digital protection laws passed in Chile, Mexico, Uruguay and Colombia found that they largely formalise minimum protections and millions of platform workers continue to face precarious working conditions and lack of algorithmic accountability.

The study by Derechos Digitales, an organisation that promotes human rights in the digital space, warned that advances in regulating the sector coexist with structural problems that continue to weaken the effective guarantee of workers' rights.

Regulating gig work with limited scope laws

Millions in most Latin American countries fall back on this type of work in times of unemployment and economic crisis to diversify their income sources.

One problem the report identified is that most of these laws had a limited scope – they applied to location-based platform work while excluding cloud-based platform work.

“In some cases, the regulatory scope is even more limited, as in Colombia, where regulation is specifically restricted to delivery work. While this trend responds to different national contexts and, in some cases, forms of work that may require specific regulatory approaches, this option fragments the regulatory approach and reproduces inequalities among different groups of platform workers.”

Moreover, although these laws recognise the possibility of an employment relationship, the regulatory framework gives considerable power to platforms (employers) to unilaterally classify workers as independent (or self-employed).

“This allows them (employers) to avoid providing protections afforded to dependent workers under labour law, such as social security coverage and maternity leave,” said the report titled Rights and Regulation of Platform Work in Latin America.

Gaps make enforcement difficult

The analysis found that the laws introduced specific safeguards in areas such as algorithmic transparency, data protection, human review of automated decisions such as account suspensions, blocks, or deactivations and freedom of association. While the report called this a significant breakthrough, it also pointed out that “the absence of independent audit mechanisms makes it difficult to verify biases and errors and to understand the systematic practices of algorithmic management.”

The laws mostly prohibit direct discrimination but the analysis found only Chile to have rules to explicitly address algorithmic discrimination. Even here, the provision has gaps that make it difficult to enforce, says the report. One such gap it highlighted was the absence of clear mechanisms for independent auditing of algorithmic systems.

According to the report, the main challenge lies in implementation of these laws.

“With the exception of Chile, regulations leave key aspects for later implementation,” said the report. These key aspects include matters related to:

• access to social security (Colombia)
• enforcement (Colombia)
• calculation of earnings and remuneration (Mexico)
• obligations of platforms to provide essential tools for performing work (Uruguay)

The report also pointed out that most of these laws had no specific provisions for technical training, resource allocation or institutional capacity building for authorities responsible for inspection and oversight of digital platform work.

Looking Ahead

Last June, the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a new convention on decent work in the platform economy. This constitutes an international milestone that recognises labour rights for those who work through digital platforms and establishes minimum standards of protection in freedom of association, collective bargaining, social security, algorithmic transparency and protection against arbitrary dismissals or deactivations.

The convention will not only strengthen the calls for regulating this sector, but also could provide key definitions and reference points for future regulatory developments in this region, the report said.

The report also highlighted the importance of collaboration among unions, platform workers, and organisations working at the intersection of rights and technology , to address the challenges posed by the opacity of algorithmic management.

Learn more, for example, about how we support platform workers and freelancers by developing and hosting a Living Tariff Tool based on the concept of Living Tariff. This tool helps platform workers and the self-employed understand the daily income needed to afford a basic standard of living.