Final negotiations in Geneva could reshape how platform companies classify and compensate their workforces
The International Labour Organization has opened what may be the most consequential two weeks in the history of platform work regulation, convening final negotiations in Geneva on June 1, 2026, to finalize the first-ever binding international convention covering gig economy workers.
The ILO's standard-setting committee is holding its final discussions from June 1–11 at the 114th International Labour Conference in Geneva, with members aiming to agree on binding rules and recommendations by the end of next week.
At the center of the talks is a question that has dogged the gig economy since its rise: who, exactly, is a worker? A central sticking point is whether protections such as the minimum wage and benefits including healthcare, sick leave, and social security should apply to all workers on these platforms or depend on whether they are classified as employees or self-employed.
The stakes are significant. The gig economy nearly doubled in size between 2016 and 2021, according to the ILO, reaching an estimated market value of roughly $10.2 trillion in 2023. It now counts up to 435 million workers, or 12.5 percent of the global labor workforce, according to the World Bank.
A market built on contested ground
The platform model has expanded by promising flexibility to workers and reduced overhead to companies. But critics say the trade-off has never been equal. Lena Simet, senior advisor on economic justice at Human Rights Watch, said that “platform companies profit enormously from a business model that strips workers of their rights.”
A May 2026 Human Rights Watch report, Algorithms of Exploitation, documented conditions for gig workers across nine countries. It found that across all countries studied, workers face low and unstable earnings, unsafe working conditions, and little to no protection when injured or unable to work.
The report also highlighted the growing role of algorithmic management in determining pay, allocating jobs, and assessing performance. “There is a serious problem with transparency and accountability around how algorithms are used to determine pay and performance,” Simet said.
Where the fault lines run
Negotiations are expected to be difficult. According to reporting by Reuters, the US, China, Argentina, and India favor a less prescriptive approach, while the European Union, Brazil, and Mexico support stronger protections.
The International Organisation of Employers, which represents about 50 million companies worldwide, has said any framework should remain flexible, allowing countries to adapt rules to national circumstances. Ride-hailing company Uber echoed that view, saying any outcome “should enable countries to provide meaningful protections while preserving the flexibility, choice, and independence that many workers value.”
On the other side, Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, told Reuters: “Technological innovation cannot be used as an excuse to weaken democratic labour rights.”
The seven-page draft text sets out rules to guarantee core labor rights, fair pay, and safe working conditions for all platform workers, regardless of how companies classify them. One of the most contested areas involves algorithmic oversight — many of the components around algorithmic control have been moved from the binding convention into the non-binding recommendation, potentially giving companies a means to avoid certain transparency obligations and limiting workers’ ability to challenge decisions made by automated systems.
What it means for the U.S.
The United States is one of the largest gig economies in the world. About 16% of Americans have worked for an app, disproportionately people of color. Yet the regulatory picture remains fractured — the legal treatment of gig workers in the U.S. rests on fragmented, state-by-state regulation, where progress remains uneven.
The U.S. has been identified as one of the countries favoring a less prescriptive outcome in Geneva, a position that puts it at odds with the direction of domestic legislative pressure. In July 2025, Senators Brian Schatz and Chris Murphy introduced the Empowering App-Based Workers Act, which would require platform companies to disclose how they use algorithms to manage, pay, assign work, and suspend workers, and would guarantee rideshare drivers at least 75% of each fare. The bill has not yet passed.
Whatever emerges from Geneva will not bind the U.S. automatically — any ratified convention must be translated into domestic law — but the global direction of travel is becoming a harder argument to ignore for American companies operating across multiple jurisdictions.
