Conference Agenda

Introduction:

The uberization phenomenon, as the so-called work on demand, is now a big concern for governments in several countries around the world due to its precarious work conditions, especially in the semi-peripheral economies like Brazil.

In our country, there are more than 1.5 million and a half on demand workers according to IPEA data from 2022 without any labor and employment protection.

The Fairwork project, coordinated by the University of Oxford and the WZB Berlin Social Center analyzed basic parameters of fair work in digital platforms and has highlighted that Brazil unfortunately has one of the worst indicators in the world in terms of fair work in digital platforms.

Research Question:

Our academic research will focus on the analysis of possible different scenarios of regulation of platform work to guarantee decent work and universal social protection in Brazil.

There are different initiatives in the Legislature, Judiciary and Executive Powers.

In the Legislature, it is estimated the existence of almost 150 bills intending to regulate platform work.

In the Judiciary, almost five hundred of labor claims filed by on-demand workers are waiting to be judged by the Labor Superior Court, being 2/3 of the pleadings related to recognition of an employment relationship.

Most of labor courts do not recognize an employment relationship because judges allege that the typical subordinate element of the employment relation is not clear present since the digital platforms neither imposes work schedule nor provides such worker with the equipment to execute the work.

The workers allege that platform companies manipulates the judicial precedents since they settle in the cases where there is a risk of recognizing a labor relationship.

In the Executive, President-elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared his commitment to decent work conditions at the core of this political program, highlighting that workers on digital platforms need regulation of their rights. There have been rumors that a new bill will soon be presented by the Labor Minister providing better work conditions for platform workers.

Methodology:

We intend to present an overview of the types of regulation of platform work in Brazil by data analytical methodology. The ideia is to show the role of the Brazilian institutions: Legislature, Executive and Judiciary.

Contribution to findings:

We intend to contribute to the debate of promoting decent work and universal social protection for platform workers around world by sharing the Brazilian experience of legal regulation.

【Introduction & Research Questions】

The flourishment of new employment forms has invalidated the binary notional frame of “employee versus self-employed” in Chinese labour law: the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the Guidance on Safeguarding the Labour Rights and Interests of Workers in New Employment Forms (MOHRSS [2021] No. 56), which innovatively introduced a new category of workers who "do not fully meet the circumstances for identifying labour relations " and ushered in the era of trichotomy in labourer identities. While this policy reflects the government's inclusive and prudent regulatory attitude towards new employment forms and helps to bridge the social controversy over the issue, it also raises some new questions: what kind of workers belongs to the “third-category” range, namely the quasi-subordinated workers? What are the appropriate practical criteria for identity classification? Given the complex internal heterogeneity, how to divide gig workers if the existing sorting methods by occupations or contract types are inaccurate?

【Methodology】

We provided statistical empirical evidence to fill the gap by collecting data from 7680 food delivery gig riders and using crosstabs in SPSS and latent class analysis (LCA) in Mplus for clustering and subtype division based on diversified patterns of “economic dependency” and “subordination”—important labour law concepts in labour relations identification often used as partition criteria for worker typology by major institutions like Eurostat. Then, Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test and logistic regression by SPSS are used to test whether different ‘dependency’ patterns have a significant influence on income, work intensity, working hours, social security coverage and subjective feelings such as perceived work pressure and satisfaction.

【Findings】

Our preliminary result showed that (1) Only 15% of gig riders can be classified into an existing dichotomy, while the rest should be grouped into a new “quasi-subordinated” worker category; (1) Riders in different subtypes differ significantly in working conditions. (3) Economic dependency plays a more significant role in predicting riders’ objective labour conditions, while subordination obviously influences the subjective feelings of riders.

【Contribution】

Such findings helped to clarify gig workers’ ambiguity in identity, provide a typology approach for Chinese workers in new employment forms; demonstrated the internal heterogeneity of this special group in the dimension of working conditions; and provide empirical evidence for the possible impacts of current policy innovation (MOHRSS [2021] No. 56).

On-demand ‘gig’ or ‘platform’ work is often associated with precarity, income insecurity, and use of algorithmic management (De Stefano, 2016; Prassl, 2017). There is, however, an increasing recognition that the work is providing an important, albeit fraught, source of income for workers who experience more structural barriers in the labour market, with migrants, workers with disability, and young workers overrepresented on platforms (ILO, 2021; McDonald et al., 2020; van Doorn & Vijay, 2022). Workers from these cohorts are pushed into ’gig’ work by structural barriers precluding formal employment. Individuals with disability, for instance, regularly experience discrimination, stereotyping, and stigmatization in their job search efforts (Ruhindwa et al., 2016). As most platforms do not use selective hiring practices, which invite conscious and unconscious biases (Timming 2019), this work provides a relatively straightforward pathway into paid work for individuals who otherwise might be reliant upon informal work, welfare, or sheltered employment. To date, there is little understanding of how traditionally disadvantaged workers experiences of the broader labour market and the welfare system shape their motivations for, subjective understandings of, and attitudes towards ‘gig’ work. This study addressed this gap in the literature by focussing on the experiences of and motivations for ride-share work by three traditionally disadvantaged groups: workers with disability, caring responsibilities, and aged 45 over. We employ a qualitative single case study design (Yin, 2013) and draws on 59 interviews with workers collected in 2021 who were operating on a major platform in Australia. What makes the Australian case salient, compared to other jurisdictions, is that the legality of ride-share work has been settled in favour of platforms by the state. Our findings, reveal that while the motivations for this type of work are multi-facetted, ranging from an opportunity for social inclusion to economic necessity, a distinction can be made between those who received welfare and those who did not. We further highlight how the organisation of the work, with its high temporal flexibility, is appealing to individuals from these cohorts with ride-share able to accommodate planned and unplanned absences in a way not available in more traditional employment. Finally, we contribute to the job quality literature (see Warhurst et al. 2022) by illuminating how work that is relatively low quality in objective terms can be highly valued and appreciated.

In March of 2022, the Chilean Congress approved a bill (Law 21431) that regulated the (employment) relationship between workers who provide their services through a mobile application and the companies who owned the digital platforms. Specifically, the legislation stated that platform workers being subordinated and dependent on an employer were considered permanent workers and should be formally hired, having a formal employment contract. As this law attempts to increase the overall job security of platform workers (measured through stable income, known working hours, provision of training, and health and safety) it, therefore, wishes to positively affect the quality of jobs and well-being of workers. Being amongst the fewer countries that have formally regulated platform work and the first country in Latin America to do so, Chile is presented as an interesting context to explore the challenges of such changes. Therefore, we aim to explore the impact of such regulation on the job quality of Chilean platform workers. Using the case of Cornershop, a home delivery app with over 3.000 employees in the Chilean territory, we argue that after regulatory measures are introduced, a series of labour issues prevail, which exerts additional pressure on the employment relationship of platform workers and their employers. 21 in-depth interviews with Cornershop workers, labour lawyers, and field experts were conducted, showing that job instability and the lack of health and safety protection remain at the forefront of the issues raised by Cornershop workers, despite the regulatory changes made to increase their on-the-job protection. The article contributes to the academic debate on new technologies and platform work, by empirically addressing the importance of regulation and its effects in increasing the job quality of workers. Similarly, the article contributes to the national-level labour policy by offering a qualitative evaluation of the implementation and application of the law and its results.

Argentina has been subsumed in regulatory battles with platform firms since 2016 (Nido 2021). National regulation of platform work has not been agreed upon at the national level since then, despite numerous attempts (Menéndez 2021) and active demands from workers (Madariaga et al. 2019; Haidar et al. 2020; Gutiérrez Crocco and Atzeni 2022).

Mainly due to those never-ending regulatory battles, most literature portrays platforms as those prevailing either by ignoring litigation results or state demands or by adapting at their convenience to exiting regulation using their power as mediators in the industry they operate in (Valdez 2022).

This article, instead, will unravel a different strategy in which state intervention and firms' interests align to advance in regulating and deregulating work without using work regulation.

Departing from the examination of one of the most significant and successful State responses to platform work growth in Argentina (the amendment of the city of Buenos Aires' Traffic and Transportation Code in 2020) the paper will illuminate the development of what we understand is a novel ‘indirect form of de/regulation’ of (platform) work, tracing its making and effects. The code modification has already called the attention of the ILO Country Office for Argentina (López Mourelo 2020) and legal experts (Mugnolo et al. 2020), showing its significance goes way beyond what its title suggests.

Using qualitative analysis of documents (including the code amendment approval proceedings, press reports and workers’ and unions' publications against it) and drawing from interviews with workers, state officials and experts conducted during fieldwork in Buenos Aires in June and July 2022, we will scrutinize the code modifications and implementation. We will devote special attention to the code's most significant new artefact: the ‘Single Registry’ of workers (the Registro Único de Transporte de Mensajería Urbana y/o Reparto a Domicilio de Sustancias Alimenticias, RUTRAMUR), inquiring in its role to sustain platforms' understanding of their link with drivers and contribute -as a control mechanism- to the management of workers’ autonomy.

The work will allow us to rediscuss platforms and state regulatory designs and enrich debates on platform (algorithmic) management and control of their workforce strategies. It will also contribute to revising litigation significance, relevance, and variations of state regulation.