This month’s International Labour Conference looked at a range of topics of interest to co-ops, including decent work in the platform economy and ways to tackle informal work.
A notable step was the vote to develop a new ILO convention and recommendation on decent work in the platform economy, which could be finalised and adopted at next year’s conference.
This marks the start of the ILO’s two-year standard-setting cycle. The conclusions from this year’s conference will inform a revised draft, which will be reviewed at the 2026 ILC for potential adoption.
The conference, which ended on 13 June, saw 11 days of discussions between government officials, employer and worker delegates and representatives from international organisations.
Its breakthrough on platform working was welcomed by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) and the International Trade Union Confederation. Earlier in April, the ILO released a Law and Practice Report summarising national legislation and policy approaches to platform work, which informed the deliberations.
Ahead of the conference, several international organisations published a position paper calling for “rights-based formalisation that ensures dignity, legal recognition, social protection, and decent work for all”.
This marked the tenth anniversary of ILO Recommendation 204, the first international labour standard to focus on the transition from the informal to the formal economy. It was produced by HomeNet International, the International Alliance of Waste Pickers (IAWP), the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), StreetNet International, the Unión de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras de la Economía Popular (UTEP), and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (Wiego).
Related: Key takeaways from the Cecop general assembly in Krakow
With the conference revisiting the recommendation, the position paper argued that formalisation efforts should focus on reducing the risks workers face through inclusive and appropriate public policies, rather than on improving the productivity of informal enterprises and economic units.
During the conference, several representatives of informal economy workers’ organisations shared their experiences, including Susan Thomas, Sewa Cooperative Federation‘s national health coordinator, who spoke on behalf of Sewa, a network of over 100 women-led co-operatives in India, and Wiego, a global network co-founded by Sewa with 153 members across 60 countries.
“In the experience of Sewa, women’s productivity and economic empowerment are inextricably linked to access to basic social protection such as health care, child care, insurance including protection for wage loss, pension, housing and basic amenities,” said Thomas. “Formalisation must follow this path – one rooted in equity, inclusion, and the real needs of working women.
“Formalisation efforts for these workers should focus on risk reduction through inclusive and appropriate public policies rather than productivity improvements. Legal recognition of workers in informal employment and the extension of social protection are also relevant approaches to reducing risks.”
Investment in the social and solidarity economy, Thomas argued, can help provide social protection, market access, public procurement, and credits and savings mechanisms.
Related: Global co-op think tank meets to discuss kickstart for social economy
It can also help towards developing distinct legal frameworks and simplified tax regimes for co-ops, capacity-building programmes for workers, and dedicated seats at policy-making tables.
“Sewa’s own co-operatives have shown what is possible when women organise collectively,” she said. These are not isolated success stories, she added, but “systemic, scalable alternatives that place care, community, and collective wellbeing at the centre of economic development”.
Despite this, she warned, co-ops and SSE entities “remain under-recognised and under-resourced in most national development plans. This must change.
“Delegates, if formalisation is to mean anything to the billions of informal workers worldwide – especially women, let this conference be a turning point – not just for definitions and declarations, but for actions that lead to formalisation.”
Ahead of the conference, the ICA and the International Organisation of Industrial and Service Cooperatives (Cicopa) published two joint statements.
The first called on governments and the ILO to support platform co-ops as a key part of building a fairer and more just digital economy. It highlighted the need for a robust legal framework for platform work, clear rules to support platform workers’ rights, recognising the benefits of platform co-ops, and granting workers the right to access and retain the data they generate.
The second urged the conference to “explicitly recognise co-operatives as a key part of the solution to informality and providers of decent working conditions, particularly in this UN International Year of Cooperatives.”
It also called on governments to recognise and support co-ops as key actors in transitioning workers from the informal to the formal economy. This should be done, it said, by integrating them into policy frameworks, enabling legal recognition and facilitating enabling conditions for co-op to develop and grow. Registration procedures should be simplified and and co-op development supported with financial, educational, and technical resources.
During the conference, Cicopa’s secretary general, Diana Dovgan, called for a strong legal framework for regulating platform work through an ILO convention accompanied by a recommendation, as well as the recognition of co-ops as drivers of decent work in the platform economy.
Santosh Kumar, the ICA’s director of legislation, participated in the final session that adopted the resolutions and conclusions of the Standard Setting Committee on Decent Work in the Platform Economy.
“As we celebrate the UN International Year of Cooperatives … it is critical to value, invest in, and support SSE entities and their social innovations that are locally anchored, grounded in democratic governance and centred on human rights,” he said.
“As we prepare to position our people-centred and planet-conscious economic model at the Second World Summit on Social Development, we welcome the recent resolution of the International Labour Conference, which recognises the indivisible relationship between social justice, democracy and lasting peace and commits to promoting an enabling environment for SSE entities.
“We call for recognising and supporting the contribution of the SSE to addressing critical issues such as decent work in the care economy, the transition from the informal to the formal economy, a just transition to environmental sustainability, and just and inclusive digital transformation.”
Concrete measures are needed or this, Kumar added – including capacity building and improved access to finance. “This is critical for enhancing their ability to meet the needs of disadvantaged groups and persons in vulnerable situations,” he said.
After the conference, co-ops and their international organisations, including the ICA, Cicopa and Weigo, will continue to engage with the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy, UN Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives, and the ILO Coop/SSE to advance their agenda.
This article was amended on 19 June to clarify that the ILO has a two-year standard-setting cycle.
