On March 4, the government sent Congress a complementary bill to regulate work intermediated by digital platforms for app drivers.
The proposal brings significant advances to the category, but fails to propose a regime of pension inclusion consistent with the particularities of the sector.
The general Social Security regime, designed for the CLT work model, ignores the reality of the delivery sector: 90% of the delivery drivers who work with iFood have, on average, less than 90 hours worked per month and use the platform to supplement their income.
If taxed, these workers will not reach the minimum contribution required for inclusion in Social Security. Only 7% of the delivery drivers will be entitled to insurance and pensions, highlighting the failure of the proposal. In other words, 100% of the delivery drivers would contribute, but a small portion would have Social Security benefits.
Based on the latest proposals made by the Ministry of Labor during the negotiations of the work group, delivery people would pay at least 2.5 times more taxes than drivers.
In practice, delivery people, who already earn less than drivers, would see their earnings decrease even further, without any benefit.
Discussion about regulatory gains for delivery people
The advancement of regulation for delivery drivers also depends on an agreement on the value of the earnings floor. The proposal of R$17 per hour worked made by the MTE, which was accepted by iFood, would be sufficient to pay the minimum wage/hour and compensate the costs of the activity.
It would also include an additional amount for dangerousness and time available to delivery people. However, the amount was not accepted by the delivery men.
iFood remains open to negotiations and trusts that, through dialogue, the government, National Congress, delivery drivers and the platform will be able to reach a consensus on these topics.
In the same way that a new category of workers was created, it is necessary to think about a new Social Security model that actually brings social protection to the category in the regulation of delivery drivers.
The insistence on a model that does not work and the imposition of a minimum wage without economic rationality puts hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.
