Fairwork Principle Changes Framework

The Fairwork Scoring System uses both principles and thresholds to define ‘fair’ platform work. The project has five principles (concerning pay, conditions, contracts, management, representation) and ten thresholds (each principle having a basic threshold and a more advanced threshold).

In order to be able to develop an effective comparative framework for the study of digital labour and continue to set international standards of fair work in the platform economy, we strive to keep our principles and thresholds broadly comparable across our country case studies. We do however, allow thresholds to be operationalised differently in different places.

We recognise that as the platform economy evolves, there is a concomitant need to evolve the principles and thresholds we use to define fair platform work. The Fairwork framework actively allows for these changes to be made through an internal system of voting for all team members.

Annual principle changes cycle and protocol

As teams finish fieldwork and scoring, they should consider what worked well and what didn’t, and any potential principle changes arising from the fieldwork experience.
Because principle changes stem from experience with the fieldwork and scoring processes, only teams that have been with the project for more than a year are able to propose and vote on principle changes.
Proposed principle changes to be registered with the central team following the proposal format.
Central team engages in external consultation, collates proposals and circulates to all teams.²
Teams hold internal meetings and provide initial feedback on proposals, to be collated and circulated by the central team.
Annual Fairwork symposium: Discussion and voting on proposed changes.
Teams notify all platforms that they are in contact with of the agreed changes, to allow them time to work towards compliance.

Voting thresholds

We conceptually distinguish between three types of changes, for which different voting thresholds are used:

Type of Change	Voting Threshold
Changes to the broad principles (e.g. changing ‘Fair Pay’ to something else).	A three-quarter majority amongst all country teams and agreement of the Director needed to change
Changes to the wording of thresholds of principles (e.g. changing ‘There is a collective body of workers that is recognised, and that can undertake collective representation and bargaining’ to something else)	Two-thirds majority amongst all country teams needed to change

See full report for a detailed list of the latest changes to the platform work principles