Mexico’s congress has approved an amendment to the country’s federal labor law to uphold the labor rights of workers for digital labor platforms.
The amendment reclassifies workers to “employees” from “independent contractors” when their monthly income from digital labor platforms – such as Uber and Didi – exceeds the minimum wage (approximately USD$415 per month). This change grants them access to the social security system, which provides health care, old-age pensions, and paid sick leave. It also ensures workers can set their own working hours and guarantees their right to unionize, marking a significant step forward in safeguarding platform workers’ rights.
The amendment will come into force once signed by President Claudia Sheinbaum, who proposed it.
Human Rights Watch has documented how digital labor platforms use opaque and ever-changing algorithms to allocate jobs and determine pay rates, offering workers no transparency into how their work is allocated and paid, and no meaningful ways to challenge these decisions. This amendment attempts to address this by requiring companies to publish transparent policies on how algorithms are used to assign tasks, and how these policies impact workers. This provision, along with others providing legal recourse and complaints mechanisms in situations of rights violations, could significantly help safeguard workers’ rights.
The bill also tackles violence and harassment that, too often, is a feature of digital platform work, especially for women workers. The law requires platform companies to adopt a gender-sensitive approach and ensure workers are protected from discrimination and harassment. In 2022, Mexico ratified the International Labour Organization’s Convention on Violence and Harassment, making a commitment to eliminate violence and harassment at work.
“This reform for platform work is an achievement for all workers,” said Shaira de Jesus Garduño Tovar, a trade unionist at the Unión Nacional de Trabajadores por Aplicación. “It took nearly five years to fight for labor recognition, and today it was achieved.” She emphasized, however, that aspects of the bill need clarifying and strengthening. “We know there is still more to do, and now a path full of new challenges lies ahead. We will not rest until this reform is fully implemented.”
Globally, growing numbers of workers earn their living – or struggle to – in the platform economy. Actions by states and international bodies to uphold their rights are essential. Mexico’s Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and Social Security Institute should collaborate with workers to ensure their rights are effectively protected.
