ILO: Artificial Intelligence and Labour – Presumption of Employment
Labour protection must be "embedded" in cross-border job search platforms.
Employment must be called employment and not disguised as self-employment or other forms of evading protected labour, believes Margarita Usova, Deputy General Secretary of the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU), who spoke at the plenary session of the 114th International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO), currently taking place in Geneva, Switzerland.
"The consolidated position of our member organizations is that every worker has the right to choose the most comfortable place of residence and employment in any of the CIS or EAEU countries and to move freely within them. Regardless of citizenship, all workers must have equal rights, working conditions, and wages for equal work and qualifications. Labour migration between our countries will only increase. Cross-border job search platforms, such as the EEC's 'Work Without Borders' project and others, must use artificial intelligence to 'embed' worker protection systems into their current functionality, integrating employment contracts, collective agreements, including cross-border ones," Margarita Usova said in her speech on June 3.
This year, the conference previews the discussion of the report by ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo, "A Moment of Choice: Using Artificial Intelligence for Decent Work."
In her speech during the discussion of the report, Margarita Usova also reminded that the ILO's mission is to protect workers, regardless of their country of birth, residence, or its political situation. She called for decisions on specific country cases to be based on facts and the opinions of workers. For example, when considering the Belarusian case at the June 6 meeting of the Standards Committee, decisions should be guided by the interests of the country's workers, relying on facts and the opinions of workers and their legitimate representatives — the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus — rather than on the views of biased, politicized structures outside the country.
The 114th session of the International Labour Conference is taking place from June 1 to 12 in Geneva. It is attended by delegations from 187 ILO member states, including the heads of national trade union centers — member organizations of the GCTU from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia.
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