As the International Labour Conference (ILC) negotiates new global standards on decent work in the platform economy, Equidem’s latest research reveals a critical gap: millions of workers powering the platform economy are invisible to the protections being discussed.

Platform companies increasingly organise work through third-party logistics firms, outsourcing companies, and staffing agencies — maintaining algorithmic control over workers’ daily lives while distancing themselves from legal responsibility. Based on testimony from hundreds of workers across 12 countries — including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kenya, Colombia, the Philippines, and Bangladesh — Equidem has documented how this model produces systemic harm: recruitment debt trapping migrant workers in exploitative conditions, opaque algorithmic management with no right of appeal, fragmented accountability that leaves workers with nowhere to turn, and serious physical and psychological health impacts.

The platform economy is increasingly outsourced, reliant on a migrant labour force, and algorithmically managed. The proposed Convention and Recommendation represent a historic opportunity to ensure that labour standards evolve alongside these changing business models. Equidem calls on ILC delegates to push for a Convention that extends protections all workers.