How to Prevent "Serfdom" in the Platform Economy: A Study by the General Confederation of Trade Unions
The blurring of employment boundaries, the rejection of employer status, and the denial of basic social guarantees to workers affect millions employed in the platform economy, according to a new academic essay Social Dialogue in a Polycentric World by the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU).
Platforms disguise wage labor under the guise of "partner-performer" status, while workers registered as "self-employed" are deprived of pension contributions, sick leave, and paid vacations. Trade unions lose the ability to represent their interests due to the absence of formal employment contracts. As a result, platform companies cut costs by offloading social guarantees, shifting the burden of unpaid contributions onto the state budget—and ultimately, the citizens.
"The only solution that can make the social dialogue return to the path of sustainable development is to strengthen and modernize the organizational model of trade unions, enabling them to embrace informal collective actions emerging around employer platforms and to connect their representatives with government platforms," the study states.
The GCTU advocates for systemic change and is involved in drafting a model law for the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly on "Platform Employment," which will define the status of platform workers and specify hazardous occupations where only formal employment contracts are permissible.
The General Confederation of Trade Unions has secured the inclusion of this document in the Comprehensive Program for Creating a Common Labor Market and Regulating Labor Migration among CIS member states. This ensures the initiative has the necessary political support and moves it from theoretical discussion to practical implementation.
"Sustainable economic growth in the CIS space requires the formation of a transnational system of social partnership, designed to ensure flexible regulation of labor migration, employment, and social protection for workers. To coordinate the activities of social partners in new political and technological realities, it is essential to create an ecosystem of decent work within the Commonwealth of Independent States. Defining approaches to building this ecosystem is the goal of this academic essay," the authors emphasize.
GCTU News
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Belarusian Trade, Consumer Cooperation and Entrepreneurship Workers' Union Turns 95
The Trade, Consumer Cooperation and Entrepreneurship Workers' Union of the Republic of Belarus celebrated its 95th anniversary on July 31. Today, the union unites over 143,000 industry workers across the country, with 1,681 primary trade union organizations. The union reliably protects the rights of industry workers in the Republic and actively operates on the international stage as part of the International Confederation of Trade Unions of Workers in Trade, Catering, Consumer Cooperation, and Various Forms of Entrepreneurship.
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GCTU Proposes Discussing Harmonization of National Social Partnership Systems at a Special Meeting of the Advisory Labour Council
The General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU) proposed adding a special section to the 2028 CIS Year of Social Development and Quality of Life preparation plan, dedicated to events aimed at improving social partnership.
The proposals for the draft plan of the Year of Social Development and Quality of Life were discussed during the first meeting of the Working Group of the Advisory Council on Labour, Employment, and Social Protection of the Population of the CIS Member States. The meeting took place today at the CIS Executive Committee in Minsk via video conference.
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Viktor Pinsky: "The meeting of the General Confederation of Trade Unions Council in Dushanbe is a landmark event for the entire trade union movement of the Commonwealth of Independent States"
Dushanbe, Tajikistan, July 1, 2026 – Viktor Pinsky, Chairman of the Commission of the Russian State Duma on Regulations and Organisation of State Duma Activities and General Secretary of the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU), called the meeting of the GCTU Council, held on July 1 in Dushanbe, a landmark event for the trade unions of the Commonwealth of Independent States.