The discussion about the future and new working relationships It often falls into the unproductive polarization that recognizes only two paths. On the one hand, the traditional employment model, with control and subordination. On the other, the absence of any regulation, based on immediacy and unrestricted freedom.
Taking digital platform workers out of the regulatory limbo in which they find themselves is the next step that Brazil needs to take, urgently, to guarantee security, social protection and minimum earnings for the 22 million Brazilians who provide services through the intermediation of mobile applications.
They are delivery drivers, drivers, plumbers, designers, manicurists, among many other professionals who deserve our respect and who lack specific regulation to support them in this new model of work relationship, the result of new economy.
O iFood is ready and open to establish a dialogue with the legislature, the executive, academia, organized civil society and, of course, the workers themselves. digital platforms and the applications that bring these professionals together. We would love for other companies to join us in protecting these workers.
The idea is not to end existing labor legislation, which has served society so well. But pave the way to collectively build a regulatory framework that does not force digital platform workers to choose between having more benefits and security in their activity or having less flexibility and autonomy.
As promoters of this cause, which has the guarantee of professional dignity as a starting point, we defend that the concept of security the new work model gains unprecedented breadth. It must involve the physical, social and financial well-being of platform workers. In practice, we talk about providing access to social Security, accident insurance, health benefits and protection funds in case of illness.
However, it is necessary to ensure minimum earnings. Remuneration on digital platforms must be proportional to the hours worked and always above the minimum calculated in the hour/minimum wage ratio in force in the country. Today on iFood, for example, the average gain of delivery drivers, per hour worked, exceeds this proportion by up to five times.
Listening to these workers and ensuring that they have a voice in dialogue with digital platforms is essential throughout the construction of future regulation and, above all, in the work relationships themselves. Therefore, it is necessary to foresee transparency, ease of access to rules of use and clear and objective conditions.
At this point, you might be wondering what the workers themselves want. Second search of Locomotive Institute, two out of three delivery drivers prefer a more flexible work model to registering with a contract. Therefore, for iFood, freedom of choice, independence and autonomy These are rights that must be recognized and valued. Not just for delivery drivers, but for all digital platform workers..
Having laid the foundations for the discussion, we now -all- become protagonists of this revolution. The new world, in permanent construction, demands agility from us to drive the much-needed transformation also in the world of work and its rules. This will not only benefit workers and platforms. Thus, society and the economy, as a whole, will also gain increasingly sustainable and dignified relationships.
Furthermore, regulating the work of these professionals is a matter of win-win-win. The workers win, who now have minimum security. Companies win, as they now have legal security to invest and innovate. Ultimately, society wins, with the inclusion of thousands of workers in the social security system.
The time to build together is now.
*Text originally published in Folha de S. Paulo on July 22, 2021
