Platform workers and pay: towards the ILO Convention

5 May 2026

Towards the Convention on platform workers and pay

A draft Convention for platform workers has been added to the agenda of the International Labour Conference in Geneva, scheduled for June 2026. It could mark a turning point for the millions of people who earn an income through the platform economy. Their work is often characterised by precarious employment, operational costs and risks, and a lack of access to formal labour rights and Minimum Wage guarantees. If a Convention is passed, the states that ratify it will be legally bound by these newly defined standards of decent work in the sector.

During our webinar, we heard from worker representatives and gig economy experts from the Netherlands, Pakistan, Indonesia, India, and the United States. We discussed the main challenges currently faced by platform workers in different contexts and sectors, ranging from ride-hailing to home services. Drawing on their first-hand experiences from the ground, we explored what could be included in this Convention, who it could apply to, and which national regulations and protections are already in place. In a global context where platform workers still struggle to accurately assess their pay due to a lack of experience, access to reliable information and hidden and indirect costs, discussing pay and remuneration is an important step towards creating a more inclusive economy for all workers.

Self-employed or employee: the Convention's approach

Over the past ten years, platform workers have encountered a variety of protection gaps and systemic issues within the context of the gig economy. "These gaps include a lack of transparency and safety, as well as issues relating to pay and rights," explains Iftikhar Ahmad, Lead Labour Law at WageIndicator. “Platform workers are treated as self-employed and have no access to Minimum Wages, sick pay, annual leave, or public holidays. If a company reclassifies them as self-employed, they are not entitled to these legal rights and the company is allowed to pay them half.”

In principle, there is widespread agreement that the Convention should ensure the correct classification of platform workers by emphasising the 'primacy of facts' principle, which gives precedence to the reality of the working relationship over contractual labels. “We believe this would be beneficial because it would prevent more people from falling through the cracks and actually address the working relationship," Director of WageIndicator Fiona Dragstra highlights.

“Indeed, article 9 states that every member must ensure that platform workers are paid their full wages on time in legal tender,” Iftikhar Ahmad adds. “However, it then specifies certain rights for individuals in employment relationships who are not treated as self-employed. Remuneration paid to these platform workers should be high enough to be comparable with the country's Minimum Wage.” It also requires countries to have legislation to ensure that platform workers are compensated for their expenses. Nonetheless, when discussing those who are not in an employment relationship, the text uses the phrase 'to the extent possible and as appropriate.' “Basically, article 9 of the Convention splits workers in two, and creates one rule for platform employees and a much weaker, discretionary rule for everyone else. It is highly unlikely that countries will implement them without binding provisions.”

Platform workers and pay: what is at stake in real lives?

Workers' experiences and testimonials have made it very clear what is at stake, particularly in countries where informality is the norm. Dr. Suci Lestari Yuana, from the Department of International Relations at Indonesia's Universitas Gadjah Mada, remarks: “In mainstream discourse, digital risks are commonly associated with surveillance, manipulation, and data theft. However, in the Global South, digital risks can also include exploitation and exclusion, as well as the deepening of inequalities, particularly within the informal labour sector.” The dominance of informal labour in Indonesia is not incidental, but rooted in longer historical trajectories, including colonial legacies. The Indonesian gig economy is a prime example of how digital platforms can facilitate the informalisation, control, and segmentation of labour, at the expense of workers' rights. In her research, Dr Suci Lestari Yuana defines 'AI colonialism' as the perpetuation of colonial power dynamics through the deployment and control of artificial intelligence technologies. This phenomenon has a direct impact on workers. Taha Syafaril, leader of Asosiasi Driver Online Indonesia, vividly explains how: ”Usually, three or four wheel drivers earn a sufficient income for the day, but we have to work 10 to 12 hours. We incur high work-related costs and risks. The only way to earn enough is to receive incentives and bonuses, but most of us don't get them.” All Taha and the other workers in the association hope for is a decent income and lower deductions: “There have been no tariff adjustments since 2017. The current rate is just a few cents per kilometre, which is far below our operational costs and the earnings of conventional taxis."

Inequalities are exacerbated further when examining the platform economy in the Global South through a gender lens. Women working in the platform economy face consequences not only from gender norms, stigma and safety risks, but also from an algorithmic system that expects them to be constantly available and penalises them for refusing work. "We work 10 to 12 hours a day, but after petrol deductions, we earn just 4 to 8 dollars a day," says Wuri Ramawati, a nine-year veteran driver, leader of Wadah Komunikasi Driver Aktif, and mother of two. “I can't work non-stop because I'm responsible for my children. But if I turn down tasks, my account goes quiet. The system punishes me for being a mum." Women also face orders being cancelled just because they are not men. These cancellations are often shaped by strong patriarchal norms, where women are perceived as less reliable or less capable as drivers. “We need a minimum income threshold for all types of orders and platforms, and health and accident protection. This is for the benefit of us and our families.”

“Minimum wages in Pakistan are categorised into four groups, from unskilled to highly skilled workers,' says Abdul Rehman of the Pakistan Federation of Sindh Home Based Workers, emphasising that inequalities hit hard across the sectors. Home-based workers, in fact, are not included in the Minimum Wage legislation. "Even though the Home-Based Workers Act 2018 provides security in terms of registration, social security, inclusion and labour protection, implementation remains an issue, and they keep working on a piece rate."

What has been done: examples of statutory pay floors for platform workers

The Draft Platform Workers Convention has been welcomed as a valuable opportunity to raise awareness of the rights of platform workers worldwide, and to ensure that all relevant parties prioritise these rights. Some progress has meanwhile been made both internationally and locally, providing good examples of practical action and regulation when setting statutory floors for non-employees. International law already requires fair pay for the self-employed, as set out in the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) and ILO Recommendation No. 204 (2015). Examples of enforceable local regulations include statutory minimum rates for self-employed and app-based workers in countries such as Poland and France and cities like Seattle and New York. "In 2018, we won legislation to ensure a minimum wage for all drivers, which was passed by the New York City Council," said Biju Mathew of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, giving a first-hand account of one of these cases. “This calculation produces a formula through which the per-mile and per-minute rates are calculated at regular intervals and are based on each platform's occupancy rate. Put simply, if a passenger occupies the back seat for only 60% of the journey, the company must pay a certain per-mile, per-minute rate. If the occupancy rate decreases for various reasons, the per-mile and per-minute rates that the company has to pay drivers increase.” The login-to-logoff time is accounted for, as is the cost-of-living index adjustment every year and a cap on the total number of cars.

Settlements, sectoral codes, and contractor regimes also go beyond statutory rates. Examples like the NVJ–DPG Werkcode in the Netherlands or the Massachusetts Attorney General settlement 2024 for Uber and Lyft drivers, are worth noting, and from the statutory hourly wage floor in Chile to the Fair Work Act (Closing Loopholes Act 2024) in Australia, there has been a common pattern of setting rates for non-employees without reclassification

Turning to more recent times, a success has been reported in Pakistan, where, for the first time in the country's history, platform workers have been granted legal protection by the Punjab Labour Code. “Following the implementation of that law, workers who sign a contract with an employer will be covered by the minimum wage law and registered with social security and other social safety nets,” explains Asad Mehmood, General Secretary of Pakistan Platform and Gig Worker Union.

Platform workers’ pay isn’t a wage: it’s a gross business income

When discussing pay, the principle behind these reflections is straightforward yet rarely considered: an employee’s wage is paid after the employer has covered the costs of equipment, downtime and social security. A self-employed platform worker’s pay does not include these costs, but they should still be able to cover their living expenses.

"Our idea is that we should take the Living Wage needed for an employee to live a decent life, and then add to that the costs and risks borne by self-employed workers, such as social security contributions, taxes, occupational items, administrative costs, training to maintain employability, time spent looking for new jobs and, where applicable, waiting times for workers on a piece rate. This would give us a minimum Living Tariff that more accurately reflects the costs this group of workers has to cover themselves," says Paulien Osse, Lead Living Wages at WageIndicator.

Next steps: the Living Tariff as a benchmark for setting pay floors for platform workers

Based on these considerations, what should the Convention do? There are two possible approaches. The first would be to strengthen the existing text by taking all workers into consideration, ensuring adequate remuneration, and guaranteeing reasonable compensation for expenses, including waiting time, for those who are not in an employment relationship. The rate should cover all the time that the worker is available to the platform. By 'at the disposal of the platform', we mean as soon as the person logs in and is ready to work. Tips shouldn't be included in remuneration, and fuel, vehicle, equipment and insurance costs, as well as platform fees, should be paid separately.

Where the text doesn't change, countries and Minimum Wage Boards can still use the Living Wage concept as a regionally calibrated benchmark for setting minimum payments, tariffs or fair piece rates, or they can use it operationally, as has happened in all examples of collective bargaining, sectoral dialogue and rate-setting in recent years.

The International Labour Conference is not the end of the road, but rather a catalyst for discussions and initiatives. By recognising the need to prioritise decent working conditions in the global platform economy, it provides an invaluable opportunity to advocate for a labour market in which all workers are seen as deserving sustainable pay, regardless of their employment status.