113th Session of the International Labour Conference

A Turning Point for Platform Work?

The 113th session of the International Labour Conference takes place from 2-13 June 2025 in Geneva, marking a turning point for platform work. For the first time working conditions in the platform economy are on the agenda of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Once barely recognised as work, platform work has now become a topic whose significance can hardly be overestimated. Many platform workers are visible on the streets, on their bikes, and riding marked vehicles, changing how we experience and navigate the city. Ordering with a click is turning into the new reality of shopping and delivery, revolutionising other services like health and childcare as well. Alongside this, hundreds of millions of workers are working behind their laptop screens, rarely seen as part of this new global workforce connected online by a platform. The latter dictates the rules of engagement, decides the pay, and can unilaterally restrict or even deactivate workers’ accounts.

Thus, making the regulation of platform work and algorithmic management a priority and finding agreement on international standards is much needed to create certainty and protect workers in the digital age. The significance of a potential convention reaches beyond platform work and has implications for us all, as we experience the impact of digitisation seeping into our everyday work lives.

The conference is leading efforts to ensure decency and fairness not only in digital work but traditional employment more broadly. This is due to the rise of the gig model of employment, based on demand-driven short work agreements, which is common to the platform economy across sectors. Forty-hour workweeks are no longer the norm and rather becoming the unicorns of our time.

The future of work of yesterday is now the reality of work today. Over the next few days, we will observe ILO members—governments, including the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, workers, and employers’ representatives—discuss the way forward. This is a rare chance to spotlight such an important topic, and the shared hope is that this opportunity is used for good.