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It was an event of great significance, reaffirming the construction of this international network of one of the most dynamic sectors of the new working class. This organization has become an international organizing force for workers confronting the cutting edge of twenty-first-century capitalism.

The Congress was structured around four panels that addressed the situation and challenges faced by app-based workers around the world. The topics covered were the Experiences of Struggle and Organization of Platform Workers Around the World (Panel 1), the challenges of the Global Labor Movement Against Far-Right Attacks (Panel 2), the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms, and the New World of Work (Panel 3), and finally the International Organization of Gig Workers.

The central focus of the debate was how to continue the struggle for recognition of the employment relationship of platform workers and for full labor rights, as well as the challenges facing the labor movement in the face of attacks by capitalists and far-right governments that seek to roll back 200 years of workers’ gains and advance attacks on social and democratic rights.

At the same time, the event coincided with a historic development that was highlighted in a press conference, where the filing of memberships for the California Gig Workers Union (CAGWU) was announced. This represents an enormously important step forward that, in the coming weeks, could lead to the recognition of a statewide drivers’ union, organizing hundreds of thousands of app-based workers across California.

In that regard, the Congress also included a valuable practical experience through a visit to the gig drivers’ waiting lot at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). There, we took part in promoting the membership campaign for CAGWU in a space where thousands of platform drivers gather every day while waiting for rides, engaging them in discussions about the importance of unionizing and the historic advance they are in the process of achieving.

The central discussion on how to win recognition of the employment relationship poses a challenge against enormous multinational companies such as Uber and Rappi, as well as governments that seek to deny workers their status as employees in order to strip gig workers of all rights.

This fundamental battle was reflected in a program for action: the Declaration of Principles approved by the Congress Assembly, which updated the version adopted in 2023 at the first Congress by incorporating new elements.

The Achievement of the International Congress Is Reaffirmed

Platform work is a twenty-first-century phenomenon that is here to stay. During the pandemic, the sector, which had begun operating years earlier, moved to the forefront internationally, as app-based delivery workers and drivers filled the nearly empty streets of cities and became visible as essential workers.

It was in this context that the first major struggles for labor rights in the sector emerged. Alongside this process, debate spread worldwide about this new sector of the working class and the prospects for regulating this activity. As a result, the first international events emerged, centered on discussions among parliamentarians and academics, with a focus on legal debates, while workers themselves and their interests were relegated to a secondary role.

In response to this situation, the first International Congress of Gig Workers was held in April 2023. It was a historic and founding event, the first gathering organized by and for app-based workers themselves. There, the fundamental foundations were laid for coordinated global action by platform workers, establishing the basis for our international organization and drafting the first Declaration of Principles, which summarized our demands.

This second Congress took place in a very different context. It was no longer held under the supposedly “pro-union” Biden administration, but under the Trump administration, a far-right government that shapes the conditions of a world in flames, characterized by enormous hostility toward workers and social and democratic rights.

At the same time, the far-right offensive, attacks against migrants, and the challenges these developments pose made this second Congress a more politically advanced event. The holding of the Congress itself, especially given that it took place in the heart of imperialism and despite immigration obstacles that imposed even harsher conditions on its organization, represented an extremely important achievement.

In this context, the conclusions of this Second International Congress mark an important advance in the discussion and organization of platform workers around the world. The updated Declaration of Principles establishes a class-based baseline for the sector, the perspective of grassroots organization and struggle in the streets to win full rights, and the importance of waging an internationalist struggle to defeat these multinational corporations.

In that sense, this was a Congress that addressed more directly the political dimension of this struggle by debating the need to go beyond strictly trade-union concerns and adopt a broader perspective of resistance against far-right attacks on all sectors of workers.

The Debates

These conclusions are also the result of an important political experience that the international platform workers’ movement has been developing over recent years. Before the first Congress was held, much of the international debate around the sector revolved around the orientation promoted by European parliamentarians and academics.

The orientation they sought to impose on the movement was that rights are granted from above, through institutions and via the intervention of legislators. Therefore, the role assigned to workers’ organizations was to engage in lobbying while leaving the resolution of the issue dependent on the goodwill of lawmakers.

That orientation, which also meant abandoning grassroots organizing in order to transform workers’ organizations into assistants to parliamentarians, was rejected at the first Congress. At this second Congress, European delegates pointed out very sharply that this orientation ultimately proved to be a dead end and had even generated demoralization among many comrades who had placed their confidence in the idea that the issue would be resolved in that way.

For that reason, this second Congress reaffirmed that this debate had been settled. A broad and deeply shared consensus emerged among all delegations that rights are won through grassroots organizing, by building workers’ organizations, unions, and mobilizations, and by forcing concessions from corporations and governments through collective struggle. There was also a clear class perspective: an understanding that workers and corporations do not share the same interests, and that our organizations must therefore remain completely independent of both corporations and governments.

On the basis of these fundamental and indispensable agreements, our Congress began to process new exchanges on how to continue the struggle. The United States is on the verge of taking a fundamental step for platform workers around the world: the recognition of CAGWU as the union representing Uber and Lyft drivers throughout the State of California, with the possibility of unionizing nearly 400,000 workers in the sector and winning a contract and benefits. Such an achievement would represent a historic and far-reaching step forward in the struggle that lies ahead of us.

However, as this victory draws closer, a new question has begun to emerge: Is it possible to win rights simply by winning the union? In other words, will the path of membership drives, building strong unions, and the gradual accumulation of improvements be sufficient to achieve victory? Or, on the contrary, does the twenty-first century require not only these efforts but also an additional step, involving a broader political intervention?

Part of the debates that emerged through the panels and discussions was the recognition that we are living in a world in flames and deeply polarized, where app-based work represents the spearhead of a broader capitalist project aimed at crushing the working class as a whole and reversing historic gains. This project is based on imposing conditions of flexibility and false autonomy by increasingly using algorithms to control the labor process. Its objective is to attack labor rights, promote the destruction of collective bargaining agreements, and fragment the working class. In each of our countries, we have experienced the complicity of governments of every political color with companies that seek to relegate us to the status of independent contractors or second-class workers.

Moreover, we are witnessing the rise of a far right that attacks not only working conditions but also democratic rights and political freedoms, and that does so not only against workers but also against migrants, women, the LGBT+ community, and everything progressive that emerges in this century as a countertendency.

At this Congress, we reached the conclusion that this context requires a more political approach to the battle we are fighting. It requires us to fight as well for demands that go beyond our immediate concerns, such as wages and working conditions. This world demands that we stand in solidarity with other sectors in struggle and understand that winning our rights also means defeating the Trumps, Mileis, Melonis, Bolsonaros, and Orbáns of the world, in unity with all the exploited and oppressed people who suffer under their attacks.

An example of this is SiTraRepA, which takes a clear position in these debates and whose banner is present in every struggle, including the recent massive Educational March against Milei’s cuts to public universities. The Italian delegation expressed a similar perspective, explaining the importance of the political general strike for Palestine. Likewise, at the Congress itself, significant attention was devoted to the enormous struggle in the United States against ICE and Trump, in which CAGWU played an important role by helping launch the Summer of Resistance.

These very important advances in our strategy were reflected in the updates to the Declaration of Principles, particularly in points 5 and 11:

Gig workers suffer the consequences of a system that exploits us and steals our future and that of our families. Our struggle cannot be limited only to the particular problems of each country or even to the specific demands of our own sector. It is part of a broader fight against the global model of precarization that multinational corporations and the governments that defend them seek to impose. We reject every attack by governments around the world against labor, social, and democratic rights. We build our strength by organizing, educating, and raising consciousness among workers.

This Congress declares itself for the unconditional defense of migrant workers’ rights and their full integration into documented and fair work, under fair conditions and without suffering any kind of discrimination. This Congress declares itself in absolute defense and solidarity with migrant workers, against any racist attacks, and for an end to all persecution, attacks, and harassment by governments around the world. Abolish ICE. This Congress stands in unconditional support of the Palestinian people and we denounce the genocide in Gaza.

These positions mark a step forward for our international coordination, one that must be confirmed through our daily activity. We collectively assume that our struggle as platform workers is inseparable from a broader battle against the global model of capitalist precarization, against the governments that defend it, and against the rise of the far right. We also assume that this struggle must be carried out through active solidarity with those confronting this offensive and its most reactionary political expressions: migrant workers persecuted in every corner of the world, women and gender-diverse people, the Palestinian people resisting genocide, and all the sectors that rise up and point the way toward a different future.

This is the new level reached by our second Congress, from which we will continue building.

An Impressive Internationalist Event

Representatives from 15 countries across all five continents took part in the event, both in person and virtually, overcoming the immigration barriers imposed by the Trump administration. From the Americas, delegations participated from the California Gig Workers Union (USA) and SiTraRepA (Argentina), both of which have been key forces in building this space for international coordination. Representatives also attended from the National Organization of Two-Wheel Workers (ONTDR) of Brazil, FrenApp of Ecuador, and UNIDAPP of Colombia.

From Asia, the Congress included leaders from the National Delivery Industrial Union of Taiwan, the SENTRO union of the Philippines, the UNI union of Nepal, and representatives from Thailand. From Europe, delegates participated from the Lieferando Workers Collective (LWC) of Germany, Riders x Diritti of Italy, representatives from the SAC union and Gigwatch of Sweden, and the Konfederacja Pracy union of Poland. Joining them from Oceania were representatives of Workers First Union and the Union Network of Migrants from New Zealand. From Africa, AUATON (Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transporters) of Nigeria participated.

The Congress also featured a broad presence of app-based drivers from across California, including the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego in the south, San Francisco and Central California (Fresno, California City, and San Jose), as well as organizers who traveled from Minnesota, where they have been part of the resistance against ICE. In addition, drivers of diverse origins took part, including migrants from Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Tibet, India, and Ethiopia.

The result was an extremely important internationalist event with broad participation from every corner of the world, where hundreds of platform workers are organizing to carry out this struggle on an international scale.

An International Organizing Force

The Congress also reflected the advances being made in different countries, as well as the global scope and broad perspectives expressed by the international organization. The development of the Congress, from its first edition, through periodic virtual meetings, and now its second gathering, demonstrates that this space has become a genuine international organizing force.

Evidence of this can be seen in the various solidarity actions we have carried out over the years. Likewise, the exchange of experiences has led to the spread of different organizing strategies around the world. For example, the experience of the Solidarity Stops organized by SiTraRepA in Argentina, which we presented at the first Congress, has now been replicated on every continent as a tool for organizing delivery workers.

This role of the Congress as an international organizing force was illustrated very clearly by the comrade from the Philippines. During the panels, he explained how participating in the First Congress inspired him to develop the union-building effort in his country. Between the first and second editions of the Congress, the union multiplied its organized strength fivefold, establishing sections in various cities and greatly strengthening its presence. The event therefore represented a major step forward in strengthening grassroots organization and building platform workers’ unions around the world.

Since 2023, the groups participating in the Congress have achieved important advances, which in turn have been reinforced by the Congress’s international perspective, giving us strength and allowing us to make the gains achieved in each country part of a global struggle.

Among these developments is the historic and massive unionizing campaign of the California Gig Workers Union in the United States, which is only a few steps away from becoming the largest successful unionization campaign in the country in decades and is already being replicated in other states. Also highlighted were the enormous app workers’ strikes (known as Breque) in Brazil, featuring historic mobilizations of thousands of delivery workers in hundreds of cities.

Another achievement shared by the entire Congress is the major advance of SiTraRepA in becoming a national voice for platform workers, playing a leading role in opposing Milei’s labor reform and developing organizing experiences through the Solidarity Stops already mentioned.

Similarly, workers recently defeated the attempted monopolistic merger of the two largest app-based companies in Taiwan and won a special law for the sector. Court victories recognizing employment relationships have been achieved in New Zealand, while in Germany an ongoing campaign is fighting subcontracting schemes that platforms are attempting to impose in order to avoid labor rights.

Challenges and Perspectives

The Congress adopted a series of key resolutions aimed at advancing the international organization of platform workers.

First, it approved the updated Declaration of Principles, which established a new baseline for the fundamental positions of the international organization. The Declaration is an achievement based on the recognition of platform workers as workers with full rights. It has a class-based content and includes anti-capitalist elements that pose a challenge to the cutting edge of twenty-first-century capitalism represented by platform work, a model whose most direct expression is found among app-based delivery workers and drivers, but which foreshadows its expansion into increasingly broad sectors of the working class.

At the same time, the Congress advanced a clearer political stance against the expressions of the system and sharpened its internationalist stance, rejecting the genocide in Gaza, calling for the abolition of ICE and an end to attacks on migrant workers, and opposing far-right forces around the world. This was expressed in the participants’ repeated positions against Trump, Milei, and representatives of ultra-capitalism. It could also be seen in the spontaneous chant that emerged during one of the closing photos of the Congress: “Up with the workers, down with the capitalists.”

Second, the Congress emphasized the need to strengthen this international tool by advancing the organization of the sector all over the world. To that end, we approved a campaign to expand the strength of the International Congress by promoting joint campaigns internationally. In this regard, the campaign adopted to bring together more organizations from all five continents that endorse the adopted Declaration of Principles and organize platform workers at the grassroots level to fight for the recognition of the employment relationship with full labor rights is of fundamental importance.

The third resolution established a path for expanding the visibility of the Congress around the world. In the coming weeks, an intensive global campaign will be launched through new communication platforms in order to spread the positions and organizational experiences developed internationally. It was also decided to promote the production of texts, graphic materials, videos, interviews, and all kinds of publications to reflect the reality of platform workers in different countries and strengthen our international organization.

Finally, in order to continue this work, the Congress resolved to hold the Third International Gig Workers Congress in 2028, where the challenge will be to continue strengthening this voice around the world.

In this way, the Congress represents an immense achievement that still faces major challenges ahead. It will be essential to further develop political positions and strategic discussions about how to build an organizational perspective that goes beyond local problems and purely trade-union intervention, confronting forces within the system that seek to intensify the exploitation of workers.

The Congress aims to play an active role in an international debate that represents the resistance to the cutting edge of twenty-first-century capitalism. It is a space of organization within a rapidly developing sector of the working class, as was reflected in the panel discussions that examined the impact of artificial intelligence and algorithms on the world of work.

The need to strengthen workers’ unions and organizations in every country was also raised, expanding their organized strength, winning union recognition, securing labor rights, and defeating attacks from corporations and governments. Victories such as the filing of the California Gig Workers Union, the defeat of PLP 152 in Brazil, the advances made by SiTraRepA, the organization of delivery workers in the Philippines, and many others are signs that this Congress has become a factor of international organization.

Finally, the overall conclusion of this Second Congress demonstrates the achievement of an extremely valuable and enriching space for the exchange of experiences and perspectives. It is inspiring to witness the organizing potential of the sector throughout the world, and it is an exciting task to build a foundational space for international coordination that stands up to the most advanced expressions of twenty-first-century capitalism.

It was also fundamental to have a space with a global perspective, enriched by exchanges with people from all over the world who share experiences and organizational perspectives in opposition to this twenty-first-century capitalist system.

This Congress, which SiTraRepA is proud to have helped build, embodies enormous potential for developing an organizational perspective for workers that extends beyond the strictly trade-union sphere and points to the need to build the tools of organization that workers around the world require in the struggle against capitalism, with the aim of fighting for a radical transformation of society.