PROTECTING GIG WORKERS AND FORMALIZING THE PLATFORM ECONOMY

1. We recognize that the gig economy and platform-based work have fundamentally transformed labor markets across the Asia-Pacific region, creating new forms of employment for millions of workers while simultaneously generating unprecedented exploitation and insecurity. Over 77 million workers in India alone are engaged in the gig economy, with projections estimating this will reach 235 million workers by 2030. Across the Asia-Pacific region, food delivery workers, ride-hailing drivers, domestic workers, and other platform workers face systematic denial of basic labor rights, social security, and workplace protections.
2. Platform companies including Uber, Ola, Swiggy, Zomato, Grab, Gojek, and multinational corporations deliberately misclassify workers as "independent contractors" or "partners" rather than employees, thereby evading all legal obligations including minimum wages, health insurance, pension contributions, paid leave, and occupational safety standards. This exploitation is most severe in developing nations where labor protections are weak and enforcement mechanisms inadequate. Workers face algorithmic management systems that monitor their every movement, impose arbitrary penalties, and can "deactivate" them without explanation or appeal—effectively terminating their livelihoods with no due process.
3. We commend the pioneering efforts of progressive state governments in India, particularly Telangana and Karnataka, which have enacted comprehensive gig worker protection legislation. The Telangana Platform-Based Gig Workers (Regulation of Work and Social Security) Act, 2023, and Karnataka's Platform-Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2024, establish crucial protections including registration of all platform companies and workers, social security benefits including health insurance, accident insurance, and old-age pensions funded by platform companies, welfare boards with representation from workers, companies, and government to oversee implementation, protection against arbitrary termination, establishment of grievance redressal mechanisms, and regulations on algorithmic management to prevent exploitative practices.
4. However, these state-level initiatives face resistance from powerful multinational platform corporations who threaten to withdraw services and lobby aggressively against worker protections. The central Indian government has failed to enact national gig worker legislation despite years of promises. Meanwhile, most countries in the Asia-Pacific region have no legal framework whatsoever to protect platform workers, leaving them in a legislative vacuum where 19th-century labor laws cannot address 21st-century digital exploitation.
5. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the brutal reality of gig work, as platform workers were deemed "essential" yet received no health protections, hazard pay, or sick leave while risking their lives to deliver food and transport passengers. Many died from COVID-19 exposure with their families receiving no compensation. The informal economy, which platforms claimed to "formalize," has instead created new forms of informal exploitation at massive scale, with workers bearing all risks while corporations extract profits without responsibilities.
6. This is fundamentally a question of whether we will allow a future of work characterized by algorithmic tyranny and precarity, or whether we will ensure that technological advancement serves workers' dignity and security. The International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations specialized agency that sets international labor standards, has recognized that the gig economy must be formalized through comprehensive legal frameworks that extend all fundamental labor rights to platform workers.

Therefore, we call on IUSY and all member organizations to:

7. Support and amplify the demands of gig worker unions and collectives across the Asia-Pacific region, including standing in solidarity with workers striking for better conditions and protections.
8. Campaign for national legislation in all countries modeled on the Telangana and Karnataka acts, ensuring comprehensive social security, minimum earnings guarantees, occupational safety standards, and protection against arbitrary termination for all gig workers.
9. Demand that platform companies be legally classified as employers with full responsibilities for their workers' welfare, including contributions to social security funds, provision of equipment and safety gear, and recognition of collective bargaining rights.
10. Urge governments to establish tripartite welfare boards bringing together workers, companies, and government to regulate the platform economy, with democratic representation for workers in all decision-making processes affecting their conditions.
11. Call for international labor standards through the ILO specifically addressing platform work, algorithmic management, cross-border employment, and the right to disconnect, with enforcement mechanisms that hold multinational corporations accountable across borders.
12. Support universal social protection floors in all countries that provide health insurance, unemployment benefits, and old-age security to all workers regardless of employment classification, funded through progressive taxation of wealthy platform corporations.
13. Advocate for data rights and algorithmic transparency, ensuring workers have access to the data collected about them, the right to challenge algorithmic decisions, and democratic oversight of algorithmic management systems that determine their working conditions and earnings.
14. Oppose all attempts by platform companies and right-wing governments to weaken labor protections, create "special economic zones" exempted from labor laws, or lobby international trade agreements that prioritize corporate profits over workers' rights.
15. The formalization of informal work must mean extending protections upward to platform workers, not pushing formal work downward into precarity. As the informal economy becomes increasingly digitized and formalized through platforms, we have an opportunity to ensure that this transition benefits workers rather than further enriching multinational corporations. We stand for a future of work with dignity, security, and democratic rights for all workers, whether they work in factories, offices, or through digital platforms.