New survey found 7 out of 10 São Paulo citizens would stop using delivery and transport apps that fail to offer decent pay and working conditions for workers.
A poll by Locomotiva released today has found that 93% of people in São Paulo believe that platform workers deserve better protections and pay.
The COVID-19 pandemic context intensified the growing dependence on digital platforms to carry out work activities. Over the past two years, delivery and transport sectors have been in the spotlight, with platform workers being considered essential. Platformization has also expanded to various work sectors, for instance, platforms that offer general services and domestic work, in addition to other cloudwork platforms.
In the last year, workers from different platforms have faced precarious and dangerous working conditions, with numerous reports of health problems and accidents. Workers we interviewed for this study also complained about low payments and unfair deactivations. They also claimed that they cannot talk to human representatives of the platforms and that it is difficult to appeal against deactivations. They were also unaware of policies to combat inequality within the platforms and would like to be heard more by platforms.
The first Fairwork Brazil report analyses how the main labour platforms in the country relate to fair work principles. Platforms can choose to reduce inequalities and unemployment. However, the annual Fairwork Brazil scoring provides evidence that platform workers, as in many countries around the world, face unfair working conditions, and suffer without protections.
Fairwork scored six of Brazil’s largest digital labour platforms against five fair work principles – fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management and fair representation – giving each platform a score from 0 to 10. Overall, all of the six platforms failed to secure basic labour standards for their workers.
“With the advance of technology and the computerization of services, digital platforms have gained immense ground. Many of them achieve huge profits. On the other hand, the search for maximizing profits comes along with the overexploitation of labor. We have seen, for example, the situation of young delivery boys in Brazil who, throughout the pandemic, have worked without any rights. Fairwork helps us to uncover these realities and thus think about policies to protect the working class.”
Ivan Valente
Federal Deputy for the state of São Paulo
“The Microelectronics Technological Revolution has profoundly altered the ways of organizing and providing work since the end of the last century. With the internet and the enormous advances in computing, “platform capitalism” has emerged. This new productive paradigm is established, but the workers engaged in these activities do not have practically any social and/or labor protection. But this does not mean that regulation of this new employment contract should not be established with legal parameters based on the concept of fair work. Thus, the Fairwork project has a lot to contribute.”
Henrique Fontana
Federal Deputy for the state of Rio Grande do Sul
“The Fairwork project assesses working conditions on digital platforms against five principles of fair work: fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management and fair representation. MPT supports these principles and encourages everyone to use the Fairwork ratings as a selection criterion when using digital labour platforms.
With this commitment, we also want to encourage other organisations to join us and Fairwork in our efforts to create a fairer future of work in the platform economy.”
José de Lima Ramos Pereira
General Labour Prosecutor, Brazil Labour Prosecutions Office (MPT)
Equal Times, 24 August 2022
In an interview with Equal Times, Ricardo Patah discusses the conditions that digital platform workers in Brazil face – particularly the country’s nearly 300,000 motoboys (motorbike delivery workers).
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 06 July 2022
When the ride-hailing giant called, powerful politicians answered, leaked text messages and emails reveal.
Thomson Reuters Foundation News, 14 July 2022
Uber drivers from South Africa to India say they’re unsurprised by whistleblower Mark MacGann’s Uber Files exposé and still work in dangerous conditions
Carta Capital, 17 March 2022
O cenário se agrava por inexistirem dispositivos legais específicos que tratem das relações de trabalho em plataformas digitais.
Evento de Lançamento: Relatório Fairwork Brasil 2021
