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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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.
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Viktor Pinsky Met with Deputies of the Parliament of Tajikistan
June 30, Dushanbe, Tajikistan – The work on developing model labor legislation within the CIS format was discussed during a meeting between 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), and Makhmadshokh Gulzoda, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, Public Associations, and Information of the Majlisi Namoyandagon Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan. The meeting, held today in Dushanbe at the Parliament of Tajikistan, was also attended by other deputies of the Tajik Parliament: Orip Amirsoda, Chairman of the Environmental Commission; Naima Solizoda, member of the Commission on Deputy Ethics; Karakhon Chillazoda, Chairman of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Tajikistan; and Margarita Usova, Deputy General Secretary of the GCTU.
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Viktor Pinsky met with the Deputy Minister of Labor of Tajikistan
June 30, Dushanbe, Tajikistan - The gradual formation of a common labour market and the regulation of labour migration among the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States were the main topics of a meeting between the Chair of the Commission on Rules and Maintenance of Activity of the State Duma, and the General Secretary of the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU), and Sharif Norzoda, Deputy Minister of Labour, Migration and Employment of the Republic of Tajikistan.