On 12 June 2026, the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted Convention No. 193 on Decent Work in the Platform Economy - the first binding global treaty setting labor standards for gig and platform workers.

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In its report, Working Without Borders, the World Bank estimates that between 154 and 435 million people worldwide earn income through online gig work. For many workers, digital platforms offer flexible income and access to new opportunities. Yet that flexibility often comes at a cost: low and unpredictable pay, unsafe working conditions, limited or no social protection, and little recourse when workers are unfairly deactivated or cut off from a platform

What is the "platform/gig economy"?

If you've booked a ride with Uber or ordered food through a delivery app, you have interacted with the platform economy. It is essentially work organized, assigned, or managed through a digital app or website rather than a traditional employer. What these jobs share is that algorithms - not managers - control who gets work, how much they earn, how performance is assessed, and whether they stay on the platform.

Why has it taking this long for rules to catch up?

Labor law in most countries was written for a different kind of workplace. Most protections — minimum pay, safety standards, sick leave, the right to organize — depend on being classified as an employee. Most platform workers are classified as independent contractors, even when their work is tightly controlled by the platform. Convention No. 193 addresses this directly: it creates a common international framework and establishes that some rights apply to all workers, regardless of employment status.

Who does it protect and how?

The Convention covers all platform workers, with particular attention to migrants and refugees, who face additional risks around recruitment debt, immigration status, and limited access to grievance mechanisms. In practice, it requires countries to guarantee:

• Basic labor rights, including freedom of association and collective bargaining.
• Health and safety protections, including the right to leave dangerous situations without penalty.
• Protection from violence and harassment, including from clients or customers online.
• Access to social protection on equal terms with comparable workers.
• Protection from unlawful suspension, deactivation, or termination.

None of this is new in principle — most of it exists in traditional labor law. What's new is having it written down, agreed internationally, and explicitly applied to the platform economy.

What happens next?

Real impact depends on implementation. As countries translate Convention 193 into national law, three things will matter.

First, workers need information that actually reaches them - in their language, through accessible channels — covering their rights, how pay works, and where to raise concerns. A right to leave an unsafe situation only matters if workers know it exists.

Second, companies need visibility into whether those rights are understood in practice. Having a policy is no longer enough; human rights due diligence expectations now require companies to show how standards are communicated and acted on.

Third, companies also need to act on what they find. Gaps in awareness around safety, grievance channels, or pay are risk signals. Left unaddressed, they become violations, reputational exposure, and compliance failures.

How Quizrr Helps Companies and Workers Implement Convention 193

This is exactly where Quizrr works: turning labor standards into worker-centered training that people can engage with in their own language, while giving companies the visibility they need to identify and address gaps across their operations and supply chains. As Convention 193 moves toward national implementation, that combination — reaching workers directly, understanding what they know, acting on the gaps — will be essential.

Convention 193 is not only a legal milestone. It is a reminder that standards only work when people understand them.