Lula government suggests a minimum wage of R$30 per hour worked and INSS

The draft law that the government is drafting to regulate work through applications keeps platform workers as independent contractors and provides for a minimum wage per hour of R$30 for drivers and R$17 for delivery people. The amount is equivalent to a minimum wage proportional to the hours worked.

The values ​​defined in the proposal are per hour worked, and not for the period logged into the application, as the workers wanted. Platforms and government did not agree with the claim.

Since May, the working group made up of representatives from the government, workers and platforms has been developing the proposal that is being aligned with the Ministry of Labor and Employment.

The project also determines a mandatory Social Security contribution for the category and for the platforms, to be deducted at source and collected by the companies.

The proposal presented provides for a 27.5% Social Security rate. With the payment, workers now have access to all rights related to the INSS, such as retirement. Companies will pay 20%. Workers will collect the remaining 7.5%.

There are, however, different bases for calculating values. In the case of app drivers, the percentages will apply to 25% of the amount passed on to them by the companies, which represents the worker’s real salary. Taking the value of R$30 per hour worked, the contribution will be R$7.50.

For delivery people, the government wants to stipulate 50% of income as a calculation basis. In this case, considering the hourly rate of R$17, the rate would be R$8.50,

Representatives of workers and platforms argue that the same calculation basis be adopted for everyone. The companies claim that drivers also make deliveries. They also argue that delivery drivers earn less compared to drivers, which, in practice, makes their contribution to Social Security greater.

What the government believes is that this could create a mismatch between income and expenses with Social Security benefits. There are still points of impasse between companies and worker representatives who are finalizing the project. According to information from technicians from the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), to the newspaper The State of S. Pauloafter completion, it will be up to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to knock the gavel so that the project can then be sent to Congress.