According to the research, 70% would contribute to the INSS if the process were automated by the platforms; at a slow pace, the government working group is already addressing questions
BRASÍLIA – Waiting for the regulation promised by the government Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on work via apps, a challenge that has generated impasse all over the world, drivers and couriers are asking for greater guarantees of social protection, but which do not compromise the autonomy that work mediated by platforms provides.
Three out of four workers prefer the current model to a CLT bond job. On the other hand, seven out of ten would contribute to Social Security if hiring firms automated the process.
The numbers come from a survey conducted by Datafolha at the request of iFood and Uber, with 2,800 drivers and delivery workers across the country. According to the survey, 89% approve of the new rights, as long as they do not lose flexibility and can, for example, continue to operate on multiple platforms at the same time and choose which times to take and which trips to accept.
“It is important to know the sector in depth so that we can have a regulatory debate that takes into account the current living conditions of these workers and the specifics of this business model, so that all parties involved in this debate can be contemplated ”, Debora Gershon, director of data policy and academic relations at iFood. According to her, the company defends the regulation of the sector from 2021.
Brazil currently has around 1.7 million drivers and couriers per demand, according to data from the Brazilian Analysis and Planning Center (Cebrap). Regulating the industry, however, will be a challenge. The government has set up a working group to discuss the issue, but progress is slow and its legitimacy is questioned by workers’ organisations. (read more below).
Labor and Employment Minister Luiz Marinho said the government’s regulation proposal should only be sent in the second half of the year, but interlocutors already say it could be left for 2024, according to the report. Stadiumagainst other priorities on the economic agenda.
Companies are also likely to face resistance in negotiations given the government’s more critical stance on the role of platforms. On several occasions, President Lula and Minister Marinho have stated that the situation of the workers “border slave labor”. Marinho said he would “frame the platforms”. We will call the companies. Mrs. Uber, come here. Donate iFood, sit here”said in an interview with Stadium.
Gershon points out that, according to the survey, half of workers use the applications as a supplement to their income, as they have other occupations. “It’s a very low percentage of workers with a very high engagement on the platform. And, according to Cebrap research, the earnings are higher than the national minimum wage and are even higher than the average salary paid for professionals with the same education”, he says .
“The whole world is facing this challenge. This type of work is very different from conventional work and is very elastic in time and space: the person works in the hours he wants; he works for two, three, four platforms at the same time ; it has no leadership in a continuous, habitual way”, assesses the economist Jose Pastoreteacher of FEA-USP and chairman of the Employment and Industrial Relations Council of the Fecomercio sp.
Among the various possible alternatives, he proposes to make these workers individual contributors to the INSS, with a kind of counterpart from the platforms. “You can’t look for protections in CLT, because CLT protects conventional employees. You need to look for this protection in social security laws, which is what the world is doing. And then it will also take several adjustments,” he says.
Today, 30% of drivers and app delivery workers contribute to Social Security through other occupations, according to the survey, and 25% say they contribute as a freelancer, in models such as the MEI (Individual Micro-entrepreneur).
Among the 36% who say they do not contribute to public or private pensions, most cite cost as the main reason (34%), followed by bureaucracy (21%) and lack of knowledge (19%).
“Social security inclusion is a factor of attention, as it increases the social protection of these workers, it is desired by these workers, and many of them do not have access to this right and this protection mechanism”, says Gershon, of iFood. “So for us, this is a certainty: Social Security inclusion has to be in the game, it has to be in this conversation.
Last Monday, the 15th, there was a nationwide app driver block, which has had timid adherence. The mobilization was called by the Federation of App Drivers in Brazil (Fembrapp) and the Association of App Drivers of São Paulo (Amasp), who denounce a delay in transfers of the value of the ride by companies and ask for greater security for workers.
According to the Datafolha survey, the main concern of motorists is vehicle maintenance (57%), followed by fear of robberies (48%) and loss of earnings in case of accidents (46%). Among couriers, concerns also include loss of income as a result of traffic accidents (48%), removal from platforms (44%) and vehicle maintenance (42%).
“What we see in the survey is that, despite seeking more social protection – and this is obviously reflected in the streets – these workers are not interested in CLT,” Gershon says.
Also according to the survey, half (51%) of drivers and couriers have apps as their only source of income, while the other half use apps as a supplement to their income. Aside from other occupations, 79% say platforms are a key source of income for closing the month’s accounts.
Working group
On May 1, the Lula government established, by decree, a working group to discuss the regulation of activities for delivery and transport applications. According to the text, it is up to the group to formulate proposals to “regulate the supply of services, goods transport, passenger transport and other activities carried out through technological platforms”.
Ten days ago the government asked for the names of the 45 members who will make up the board, 15 from the government, 15 from the workers and 15 from the employers. However, there has not been an official working group meeting so far.
Furthermore, the 15 seats of the workers will be occupied by representatives of the union headquarters, and not by direct members of associations of drivers and app delivery workers. According to the decree, the workers will be represented by 2 members of the CSB (Central of Brazilian Unions), 2 of the CTB (Central of Workers and Workers of Brazil), 3 of the CUT (Central Única dos Trabalhadores), 3 of the FS (Unione Força ), 2 from the NCST (New Central Union of Workers) and 3 from the UGT (General Workers’ Union).
“It’s the first time I’ve seen a regulation for a certain class in which no real representative will participate,” wonders Eduardo Lima de Souza, president of Amasp and director of Fembrapp. “We had two online meetings with secretaries and coordinators of the (Labour) ministry and they gave us guarantees that we would be part of the table. However, days later, the government announced the official list and we weren’t there. Now we are looking for ways to be part of it. , because those who are there are not our representatives, ”he says.
Wanted, the Ministry of Labor did not respond.
Source: Terra
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