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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have called for a binding international convention that guarantees living wages, social protection and collective bargaining rights.
NLC President, Mr Joe Ajaero, made the call at a joint news conference on the sidelines of the 114th International Labour Conference (ILC) on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ajaero said the rapid growth of the platform economy required enforceable global standards to protect workers from exploitation and safeguard their rights in an increasingly digital workplace.
According to him, workers in the platform economy remain vulnerable to algorithmic surveillance, arbitrary deactivation and the denial of basic labour rights without adequate international protections.
“If the work of the ILO is to mean anything for Nigerian workers and the global working class, it must hasten work on a binding standard for the platform economy.
“We do not need aspirational declarations that leave platform workers exposed to algorithmic surveillance, arbitrary deactivation and the denial of basic labour rights.
“We need a convention that guarantees living wages, collective bargaining, social protection and the right to be remembered as human beings, not data points,” he said.
Ajaero said social dialogue must remain central to workplace transformation, adding that technological advancement should not deepen existing inequalities or undermine workers’ welfare.
He also advocated a transformative gender approach, saying digital platforms often reinforce structural inequalities that disproportionately affect vulnerable categories of workers.
The NLC president stressed that labour standards would remain ineffective without strong enforcement mechanisms capable of ensuring compliance by member states.
He urged the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to strengthen its supervisory framework to hold governments accountable for violations of existing and future labour instruments.
Ajaero alleged that Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining had been violated in Nigeria without adequate consequences for offenders.
“We have seen in Nigeria how partners flout Convention No. 98 and others with impunity, occupying union secretariats and crushing collective bargaining while hiding behind sovereignty,” he said.
He said organised labour would continue to advocate stronger protections for workers and push for global standards that promote fairness, dignity and decent work.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
