GCSPF e-Newsletter #118 | June 2025 Edition | ILC

In 2014 and 2015 ACV-CSC (Christian Trade Union Confederation) and WSM (We Social Movements) collaborated with dozens of trade unions and civil society organisations representing informal workers and participated in two ILC of the ILO. After two years of debates and negotiations, the ILO adopted Recommendation 204 on the transition from the informal to the formal economy. This instrument represents the first international regulation exclusively dedicated to stakeholders in the informal economy.
A decade later, a General Discussion on the same topic is on the agenda at the ILC in June 2025. To prepare for the debates, ACV-CSC, WSM, the Alliance of Christian Mutual Insurance Organisations and the INSP!R network ("International Network for Social Protection Rights") have taken this opportunity to assess progress alongside trade unions and social movements from Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Their report also provides valuable experiences of how Unions and civil society organisation take up essential roles to improve their working situation and to make the transition from the informal to the formal economy.
(Also available in French and Spanish) Read more

The recording of the webinar is now online. Panelists presented examples of formalization processes at local and national levels which have benefitted home-based workers, street vendors, waste pickers and other sectors in the informal economy. Most importantly, they will show us the need for grounded, participatory and inclusive policies that leave no one behind when it comes to innovative approaches around formalization. Watch the recording

The HRW Report, “The Gig Trap: Algorithmic, Wage and Labor Exploitation in Platform Work in the US” focuses on seven major companies operating in the US: Amazon Flex, DoorDash, Favor, Instacart, Lyft, Shipt, and Uber. These companies claim to offer gig workers “flexibility” but often end up paying them less than state or local minimum wages. Six of the seven companies use algorithms with opaque rules to assign jobs and determine wages, meaning that workers do not know how much they will be paid until after completing the job. Read the report

The recording of this webinar is now online. The panelists explored: The role of the ILC as a space for labour standard-setting and its relevance to workers in informal employment; existing international labour standards, the extent to which they protect the rights of workers in informal employment and what is at stake at this year’s ILC; and the positions of workers’ organizations: what formalization looks like from their perspective and key considerations for developing effective interventions. Watch the recording

Platform workers are fighting for their rights – and the ITUC is backing them with the campaign Time to Deliver: Rights for All Platform Workers. They demand urgent action to stop exploitation, and to deliver fair wages, decent working conditions and the right to organise. The call for all platform workers to receive the same protections as all other workers will take centre stage at the ILC in June, where ITUC is pushing for a new ILO Convention and Recommendation to set global standards for fair treatment. Join the fight here to ensure that platform workers – from care workers to couriers to content moderators – are no longer denied the rights they deserve. Read more

The ITUC Global Rights Index 2025 will be launched, revealing the latest trends in workers’ rights violations worldwide. ITUC will take a clear message to the governments and employers at the ILC: workers’ rights must be respected, and unions must be free to organise without fear. Read more

This ILO report provides a background for the discussion of the ILC on innovative approaches and good practices to addressing informality, in order to identify further action and priorities at the global, regional and country levels, and to enable the ILO and its constituents to better support successful action to promote the transition to formality, including by preventing informalization. The report also helps to build on the evidence base of innovative approaches and good practices for the transition to formality. Read more

What Role for Social Protection in a Climate Context? By Bread for the World
Climate change is significantly altering and exacerbating individual and collective risks and their impacts. These impacts concern everyone across the globe but are particularly felt by the most vulnerable population groups in low-income countries who are disproportionally exposed to climate related risks.
Over the last 10 years the concept of adaptive social  protection has gained increasing momentum in the global development discourse. Read more

Only International Justice Can Create Social Security. By Bread for the World
With this journal, BftW wants to contribute to the debate on policy coherence. The aim is to sensitise political  action in the Global North to these challenges. To this end, this publications sheds light on specific topics and raise questions about complex global economic relationships. The answers to these questions will determine how we will live  in global solidarity in the future and whether all people  will be able to live their lives in social security. The question is: which policies of the Global North, and Germany in particular, impair the expansion of social protection in the Global South? What needs to be changed here in Germany? Read more

This is a call to action for a globally coordinated public mobilisation on economic justice focused on several key moments in 2025. The joint mobilization is prepared by a broad group uniting grassroots, national, regional, and global organisations, networks, trade unions, social movements, constituency groups and individuals across the globe.
Sign the Public Statement (English - Spanish - French) by 31st May 2025.

In March, Stephen Kidd, Diloá Athias and Olivia Claxton wrote a critique of the ILO’s estimates of the universal social security financing gaps. The ILO responded, defending their results. You can find their response here. Read more

The Southern African Social Protection Experts' Network in collaboration with the Catholic University of Malawi will be hosting the 2025 Annual International SASPEN Conference themed, "Climate Resilience and Social Protection: Addressing the Needs of Disaster-Impacted Communities and Strengthening Social Protection Systems." The conference will be held from 25 - 27 November 2025 in Blantyre, Malawi.
SASPEN invites abstract submissions in line with the main conference theme and sub-themes, the deadline is 15 June. Read more

In 2014 and 2015 ACV-CSC (Christian Trade Union Confederation) and WSM (We Social Movements) collaborated with dozens of trade unions and civil society organisations representing informal workers and participated in two ILC of the ILO. After two years of debates and negotiations, the ILO adopted Recommendation 204 on the transition from the informal to the formal economy. This instrument represents the first international regulation exclusively dedicated to stakeholders in the informal economy.
A decade later, a General Discussion on the same topic is on the agenda at the ILC in June 2025. To prepare for the debates, ACV-CSC, WSM, the Alliance of Christian Mutual Insurance Organisations and the INSP!R network ("International Network for Social Protection Rights") have taken this opportunity to assess progress alongside trade unions and social movements from Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Their report also provides valuable experiences of how Unions and civil society organisation take up essential roles to improve their working situation and to make the transition from the informal to the formal economy.
(Also available in French and Spanish) Read more

The recording of the webinar is now online. Panelists presented examples of formalization processes at local and national levels which have benefitted home-based workers, street vendors, waste pickers and other sectors in the informal economy. Most importantly, they will show us the need for grounded, participatory and inclusive policies that leave no one behind when it comes to innovative approaches around formalization. Watch the recording

The HRW Report, “The Gig Trap: Algorithmic, Wage and Labor Exploitation in Platform Work in the US” focuses on seven major companies operating in the US: Amazon Flex, DoorDash, Favor, Instacart, Lyft, Shipt, and Uber. These companies claim to offer gig workers “flexibility” but often end up paying them less than state or local minimum wages. Six of the seven companies use algorithms with opaque rules to assign jobs and determine wages, meaning that workers do not know how much they will be paid until after completing the job. Read the report

The recording of this webinar is now online. The panelists explored: The role of the ILC as a space for labour standard-setting and its relevance to workers in informal employment; existing international labour standards, the extent to which they protect the rights of workers in informal employment and what is at stake at this year’s ILC; and the positions of workers’ organizations: what formalization looks like from their perspective and key considerations for developing effective interventions. Watch the recording

Platform workers are fighting for their rights – and the ITUC is backing them with the campaign Time to Deliver: Rights for All Platform Workers. They demand urgent action to stop exploitation, and to deliver fair wages, decent working conditions and the right to organise. The call for all platform workers to receive the same protections as all other workers will take centre stage at the ILC in June, where ITUC is pushing for a new ILO Convention and Recommendation to set global standards for fair treatment. Join the fight here to ensure that platform workers – from care workers to couriers to content moderators – are no longer denied the rights they deserve. Read more

The ITUC Global Rights Index 2025 will be launched, revealing the latest trends in workers’ rights violations worldwide. ITUC will take a clear message to the governments and employers at the ILC: workers’ rights must be respected, and unions must be free to organise without fear. Read more

This ILO report provides a background for the discussion of the ILC on innovative approaches and good practices to addressing informality, in order to identify further action and priorities at the global, regional and country levels, and to enable the ILO and its constituents to better support successful action to promote the transition to formality, including by preventing informalization. The report also helps to build on the evidence base of innovative approaches and good practices for the transition to formality. Read more

What Role for Social Protection in a Climate Context? By Bread for the World
Climate change is significantly altering and exacerbating individual and collective risks and their impacts. These impacts concern everyone across the globe but are particularly felt by the most vulnerable population groups in low-income countries who are disproportionally exposed to climate related risks.
Over the last 10 years the concept of adaptive social  protection has gained increasing momentum in the global development discourse. Read more

Only International Justice Can Create Social Security. By Bread for the World
With this journal, BftW wants to contribute to the debate on policy coherence. The aim is to sensitise political  action in the Global North to these challenges. To this end, this publications sheds light on specific topics and raise questions about complex global economic relationships. The answers to these questions will determine how we will live  in global solidarity in the future and whether all people  will be able to live their lives in social security. The question is: which policies of the Global North, and Germany in particular, impair the expansion of social protection in the Global South? What needs to be changed here in Germany? Read more

This is a call to action for a globally coordinated public mobilisation on economic justice focused on several key moments in 2025. The joint mobilization is prepared by a broad group uniting grassroots, national, regional, and global organisations, networks, trade unions, social movements, constituency groups and individuals across the globe.
Sign the Public Statement (English - Spanish - French) by 31st May 2025.

In March, Stephen Kidd, Diloá Athias and Olivia Claxton wrote a critique of the ILO’s estimates of the universal social security financing gaps. The ILO responded, defending their results. You can find their response here. Read more

The Southern African Social Protection Experts' Network in collaboration with the Catholic University of Malawi will be hosting the 2025 Annual International SASPEN Conference themed, "Climate Resilience and Social Protection: Addressing the Needs of Disaster-Impacted Communities and Strengthening Social Protection Systems." The conference will be held from 25 - 27 November 2025 in Blantyre, Malawi.
SASPEN invites abstract submissions in line with the main conference theme and sub-themes, the deadline is 15 June. Read more