The reorganization of app-based delivery workers' job: new-old forms of control in Arapiraca, Brazil
Keywords:
Delivery workers, Groups, Labor, UberizationArticle Sidebar
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With the rise of digital platform work, there is a challenge to understand the work process of app delivery workers. Given this, this research aims to analyze the reorganization of labor among delivery workers in Arapiraca, Brazil. This is a qualitative research study in which six interviews were conducted. The analysis considered the following dimensions: the work process, forms of control, and collectivity. The study found the formation of groups of delivery workers as an alternative to large delivery apps. In these groups, an administrator is present. There are strategies for collective organization, facilitated by digital social media. However, the presence of the administrator implies the coexistence of elements of vertical organization, with delivery workers being subordinate. These workers have a daily working day longer than 8 hours and earn between one thousand five hundred and two thousand reais (R$) per month. The work of delivery drivers, even with the use of new technologies, remains precarious. This reflects the conservative modernization typical of the periphery of capitalism, blending some technological innovations with old relationships.
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