Geneva – ACVi Asia Regional Coordinator Maria Emenita, a delegate from the All-Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSBSI) at the 114th International Labor Conference (ILC 2026) in Geneva, Switzerland, stated that at approximately 1:30 p.m. Geneva time on Thursday (June 11, 2026), the committee on decent work and economic platforms at the 114th ILC had finally completed the drafting of a convention on decent work for economic platform workers, which will become an ILO convention. According to Maria, the convention will likely become Number 193.
“The convention will be officially approved at the plenary meeting the day after tomorrow,” Maria said in an official statement on Friday (June 12, 2026).
She explained that the committee on decent work and economic platforms had completed its work. And the process was quite difficult, with intense debates, especially with employers, taking up a lot of time, particularly on several points regarding the classification of platform workers, registration and recognition, and social protection for them, as well as the implementation of automation systems, including data protection, which triggered very heated debates.
“Of the 205 proposals submitted for use in the 24 articles of the convention, I think this was the most difficult,” said Maria.
She added that this occurred especially on the final day, where there was a “deadlock.” The forum attempted to reach a consensus, with many discussions still unaddressed due to the limited time available. However, a consensus was ultimately reached.
Maria explained how difficult the labor delegation’s struggle was. At the beginning of the draft convention discussions, the workers clashed with the business and government delegations.
This was due to the business delegation’s inconsistency in their commitment to the agreement, which stated that there would be no further discussion of the previously agreed-upon terms, as the Chair of the meeting had warned from the outset.
Surprisingly, the Indonesian government delegation initially supported Malaysia, offering new proposals to address the previously agreed-upon issues.
However, in the end, the labor delegation unitedly approached the government and demanded its support for the agreement and commitment to the draft prepared by the ILO and labor unions.
“Because we already have a Presidential Regulation on Platform Workers, the government’s impression was quite positive,” Maria explained.
And on the fourth day and beyond, the Indonesian government was very responsive. They accepted the responses and were quite vocal, expressing their opinions, supporting the labor and ILO positions on the draft convention.
Present at the 114th ILC session were delegates from the Indonesian Social and Economic Cooperation Organization (KSBSI), including Martua Raja Siregar, Rekson Silaban, and Maria Emeinta, who served on the Economic Platform Committee. Marihot Nainggolan and Supardi served on the Social Dialogue Committee. KSBSI President Elly Rosita Silaban served on the Application Standards Committee (CAS). (RED/handi)
