government project will make service more expensive

The government intends to present a bill to Congress by the end of the month to regulate work through applications. The tendency is for it to become more expensive or, at the limit, even make business via digital platforms – such as Uber and iFood – unfeasible in the country.

The project, according to behind-the-scenes information collected by the Jota portal, provides for a social security contribution rate of 27.5% and minimum earnings per hour worked, of R$30 for drivers and R$17 for delivery people. Of the total social security tax rate, 20% would be paid by companies and 7.5% by workers.

Questioned by People’s Gazette, the Ministry of Labor said that it still does not have information about the content of the text of the bill and that “the parties are still negotiating”. The deadline for definition ends on the 30th.

Labor lawyers and experts consulted by the People’s Gazette are unanimous in affirming the need for regulation that guarantees some level of social security protection for workers. But they also agree that, if the rates that were made public are confirmed, services will be more expensive for users.

“There is no way for companies not to pass on the costs”, says Fernanda Silva, from the labor unit at Madrona Fialho Advogados. “Ultimately, the contribution could make the business unviable and make companies leave the country.”

In the same vein, professor José Pastore, from FEA-USP, a consultant in labor relations and human resources, classifies the rate as “very exaggerated”. “The platforms’ competitiveness lies precisely in the flexibility of using freelance workers. They would have to significantly increase the price to the consumer,” he says.

Eugenio Haizenreder, from RMMG Advogados and professor at PUC-RS, also questions the value of the social security tax: “We need to have a reference, some study showing where this percentage came from.”

For Haizenreder, however, the biggest problem with the project is the imposition of regulation by the government. “It’s state interference in a private relationship,” he argues.

The platforms, the professor highlights, were created in a new model of working relationships and the market itself could design its regulations. “The format of the applications requires independence and protagonism from the actors involved”, he believes.

For Pastore, workers could only be protected by adapting the Social Security law to include categories per application. He recalls that the law already provides for the figures of the self-employed worker and the Individual Microentrepreneur. “It’s not ideal, but it would be simpler, believe me.”

Legal stability can attract investments

The positive point highlighted about the proposal is that the establishment of regulation in law can provide some legal certainty for companies, which are currently at the mercy of the opinions of the judges in charge of judging these issues.

Work through applications has been the target of actions in the Labor Court, filed mainly by the Public Ministry of São Paulo (MP-SP).

Last week, a first instance judge ordered Uber to pay million-dollar compensation for collective damages and to hire all workers under the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) regime.

It turns out that the employment relationship argument, accepted by the judge, has already been discarded by the Superior Labor Court (TST) and by jurisprudence of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) itself, but the noise persists.

“Regulation would bring legal stability and confidence for companies to invest”, says Renan Duarte, from Madrona Fialho Advogados.

Regulation is a long-standing desire of the government, which has already classified work as degrading

The regulation of work through applications has been in the sights of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) since the beginning of his administration. In the first half of the year, Labor Minister Luiz Marinho criticized the model several times, attributing it to degrading working conditions.

Marinho went on to say that offering only Social Security contributions to workers would be “very little” and that companies cannot make “extravagant profits” while there is “overexploitation of labor.” He also considered using Correios to replace Uber, if the company left Brazil after the regulation.

The Ministry of Labor created a group to discuss the topic, with the participation of companies and representatives of transport app workers. On the agenda, in addition to minimum earnings and Social Security, topics ranged from insurance vouchers, meal vouchers and compensation for the use of vehicles to the transparency of the algorithm, so that the worker knows what determines the remuneration.

Started in June, negotiations ended last week, with no agreement between the parties. The main point of divergence among transport applications was the values ​​proposed for minimum remuneration.

Among delivery drivers, the biggest impasse is the regulation of remuneration for “hour logged in” on the platform instead of just “running” time. The government decided to arbitrate the conflict with the bill.

Lula talks about “decent work” at the UN Assembly

The decision to arbitrate conflicts through a regulatory project comes to light in the same week that Lula addressed the union issue at the UN General Assembly, in New York. The speech took place on Tuesday (19).

The Palácio do Planalto had informed in July that the regulation of work via app would be addressed by the president, in defense of the need for countries to toughen up against precarious work.

In the meeting with the North American president, Joe Biden, on Wednesday (20), with the presence of trade unionists from both countries, Lula defended, in a speech, the “use of technology and digital transitions in favor of decent work”.

Paradoxically, in the United States there is practically no regulation. European countries, in turn, adopt different models. In England and Spain, for example, the law recognizes formal, autonomous work, and a third intermediate category, where social and social security benefits are guaranteed to the worker. In Germany, what defines the relationship is the worker’s degree of autonomy in relation to the platform.

For Haizenreder, the challenge is to guarantee social protection without making employment, on which workers depend, unviable. For Pastore, the ideal form “the world has not yet found.”