ILO Expands Digital Labour Tracker with New Global Database on Platform Work CBAs

The updated Tracker, launched through the ILO’s Observatory on AI and Work in the Digital Economy, maps the growing number of agreements negotiated between platform companies and workers’ organizations.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has unveiled a new feature within its Digital Labour Platform Policy Tracker, introducing a comprehensive database dedicated to collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) related to platform work. This new component provides policymakers, researchers, trade unions, and employers with an unprecedented look at how social partners are shaping labour rights in the rapidly evolving digital economy.

A Tool to Monitor Fair Work in the Platform Economy

The updated Tracker, launched through the ILO’s Observatory on AI and Work in the Digital Economy, maps the growing number of agreements negotiated between platform companies and workers’ organizations. These range from national and sectoral frameworks to enterprise-level arrangements within the European Union and beyond.

Each entry in the database includes detailed summaries of agreement content, legal standing, and geographic scope, helping users identify whether a CBA is binding or voluntary and which issues it covers—such as pay, working hours, dispute resolution, or algorithmic management.

“As the platform economy matures, collective bargaining is becoming a vital mechanism for ensuring fairness and protecting workers’ rights,” said an ILO spokesperson. “This new resource gives visibility to emerging practices and helps social partners learn from each other’s experiences.”

Understanding Collective Bargaining in Platform Work

Platform work—ranging from ride-hailing and food delivery to freelance digital services—has become a defining feature of the modern labour market. However, the growth of app-based employment has raised urgent questions about worker classification, social protection, and access to collective representation.

Through the new CBA Tracker, users can explore how governments, unions, and companies are experimenting with innovative labour agreements that bring traditional labour protections into the digital age. The tool highlights key developments such as:

• Agreements between national unions and global platforms covering pay transparency and health insurance;

• Sectoral accords that standardize working conditions for gig workers across multiple companies;

• Enterprise-level CBAs addressing algorithmic fairness, data transparency, and grievance procedures; and

• Hybrid frameworks where governments facilitate dialogue between workers’ cooperatives and digital platforms.

Data-Driven Insights and Global Comparisons

The ILO’s Digital Labour Platform Policy Tracker already monitors legislation, judicial rulings, and regulatory reforms shaping the future of digital work. With the new CBA component, the tool now enables comparative analysis of how collective bargaining is evolving across jurisdictions.

Users can filter results by:

• Country or region (e.g., EU Member States);

• Platform type (transport, delivery, microtasking, freelancing, etc.);

• Level of agreement (enterprise, sectoral, national); and

• Thematic area, such as occupational safety, working time, data privacy, or social security.

This flexibility allows stakeholders to track trends in worker empowerment, monitor how digital labour markets are formalizing, and evaluate the real-world impacts of negotiated agreements.

Integrating Technology, Labour Rights, and Policy

The new component reflects the ILO’s broader mandate to ensure that the digital transformation of work benefits all. The Observatory on AI and Work in the Digital Economy serves as a global knowledge hub, integrating data from multiple sources to inform evidence-based policymaking on issues like algorithmic management, wage equity, and social dialogue in the platform economy.

“We are witnessing the digitalization of collective bargaining itself,” noted one of the ILO’s digital economy experts. “From data transparency clauses to protections against algorithmic bias, CBAs in the platform sector are pioneering new ways to uphold fairness in a technologically driven world of work.”

Future Expansion and Next Steps

The ILO confirmed that the next phase of the Digital Labour Platform Policy Tracker will further expand both its geographic and thematic coverage, extending beyond Europe to include Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where platform work is growing rapidly.

Planned updates will also incorporate:

• Judicial and administrative decisions related to platform worker classification;

• National legislative reforms and policy initiatives;

• New collective bargaining agreements as they emerge; and

• Analytical tools to visualize relationships between legal frameworks, CBAs, and worker outcomes.

By continuously updating the database, the ILO aims to create the world’s most comprehensive repository of governance models for platform work.

Supporting Fair Work Through Knowledge and Dialogue

The launch of the CBA Tracker comes amid a wave of global initiatives addressing the future of work. In the European Union, for instance, policymakers are finalizing a directive on platform workers’ rights, while in many developing countries, unions are exploring how to extend labour protections to gig and freelance workers who often fall outside traditional legal frameworks.

The ILO’s resource complements these efforts by promoting knowledge-sharing and transparency, helping social partners craft fair, evidence-based agreements that respond to new forms of employment.

Empowering Stakeholders Across the Digital Landscape

For unions, the Tracker provides examples of successful bargaining strategies and contract models that can be adapted to local contexts. For governments, it offers comparative insights into regulatory trends and social dialogue mechanisms. For employers and platforms, it highlights best practices for engaging constructively with workers to build sustainable, trust-based employment relationships.

As platform work continues to redefine labour relations worldwide, the ILO’s Digital Labour Platform Policy Tracker underscores a central message: technological innovation must go hand in hand with social innovation. By documenting how collective bargaining adapts to new realities, the ILO is helping to ensure that digital labour markets evolve with fairness, inclusivity, and accountability at their core.