Issue Briefs & Reports

Digital Platform Worker Resources | WTO Issue Briefs | Telework Reports

Digital Platform Worker Resources

The ILAW Network is pleased to present this report, Taken for a Ride: Litigating the Digital Platform Model, which attempts to respond to requests from ILAW Network members and others for comparative analysis on the litigation taking place around the world against digital platforms such as Uber, Foodora, Deliveroo and many others.

This database is focused on draft laws, legislation and decisions regarding digital platform work in Latin America. This database compiles bills, administrative decisions, court rulings and unions agreements, from nine countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay).

WTO Issue Briefs

All states are obliged under international law to eradicate forced labour within their own territories. However, these obligations do not require states to eradicate forced labour in other states. At most, states are obliged to cooperate with each other to this end. It is possible that, in future, they may also restrict trade in services supplied using forced labour. This memorandum considers the legality of such measures under WTO law. Section 1 considers prohibitions on imports of forced labour products, first by looking at the obligations under the GATT 1994 which apply to such measures, and then by considering the exceptions to these obligations. Section 2 considers the equivalent two questions under the GATS Agreement in relation to restrictions on forced labour services.

This memo explains that under current WTO law, the ILO fundamental labor rights should already be protected under the ‘public morals’ clauses of the WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). In order to provide legal certainty, the memo calls for the adoption of an authoritative interpretation. In this manner, the WTO could affirmatively protect fundamental labor rights without the need for any new instruments or amendments to existing ones. Further, an authoritative interpretation does not require consensus, thus avoiding a veto by any one member state.


Telework Reports

Latin America (March 2022)

The ILAW Network, in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) “Toma Partido” project,  analyzes existing legal frameworks on telework in Latin America, whether adopted before or during the pandemic. The project consists of a regional report and ten national reports on Uruguay, Peru, Panama, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia and Brazil. Each report covers the impact of the use of telework laws and frameworks and concludes with a chapter on regulatory recommendations to be taken by trade union organizations and labor lawyers. We hope that these publications are a useful contribution to avoid the telework practices that deepen labor precariousness.

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