Brasilia - The government is preparing a bill to ratify the recent International Convention for App-Based Workers, from the International Labour Organization (ILO), after a setback that practically buried the bill under discussion in Congress this year.

The idea is to resume discussions on regulating work on digital platforms, Labor Minister Luiz Marinho told NeoFeed . He revealed that the government intends to send a bill to Congress to that effect, since Brazil, as a member of the international body, needs to implement the convention.

“The ILO Convention regarding app-based workers is fundamental to this debate. And I have already instructed our technical team to prepare studies so that we can present President Lula with a draft law,” he stated. “The ILO stipulates that member [countries] incorporate it into their legislation.”

Approved in June, ILO Convention 193 recommends that countries regulate the issue and stipulates that members adopt measures to protect workers, such as social security benefits.

The text also advocates that countries should facilitate the formalization of these workers in the apps (ride-hailing and delivery apps, for example). And that these members should also formulate actions to prevent workplace accidents.

According to Marinho, the latest ILO convention opens an opportunity for the government to once again engage in this fierce debate, which has been taking place between parliamentarians, workers, platforms, and the Executive branch.

“These are two different things we want to address. Ratifying ILO Convention [193] and at the same time resuming the discussion and voting on the bill regarding the regulation of app-based workers,” the minister stressed. “I believe Parliament cannot shy away from this debate.”

The agreement doesn't explicitly stipulate that drivers and delivery workers for apps have a formal employment relationship with the digital platforms. However, it does define a series of worker rights and protections in cases of violence and harassment.

There is even a trial underway at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to decide whether workers who use delivery or ride-hailing websites are entitled to an employment relationship with platforms like iFood and Uber. This is the so-called "uberization" of work, as the discussion has been called.

Not coincidentally, Edson Fachin, president of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) and rapporteur for Topic 1,291, a case on the subject, suspended the judgment after requests from the Labor Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Public Defender's Office to assess specificities pointed out precisely by ILO Convention 193.

The lawsuit was filed by a driver against Uber. But the ruling has "general repercussion," meaning it will be fundamental in establishing general guidelines on the subject, which is the object of numerous lawsuits across the country in the Labor Courts.

Lawyer Líbia Alvarenga de Oliveira, a partner in the labor law area of the Innocenti Advogados law firm, believes that Brazil is not lagging behind in the regulation of app-based work, but has the opportunity to lead this process globally.

For her, defining whether or not these workers have an employment relationship with the platforms is not the solution for a new type of work, which has specific characteristics.

“Meanwhile, we see a great deal of precariousness in this work and enormous harm to the workers,” points out the lawyer, who draws attention to the fact that in many cases app workers don't even know how to calculate the cost of their services.

Libya also understands that, in this context of lack of regulation of this work, the ILO Convention emerges as an "excellent opportunity" for Brazil to implement measures to protect and contain abuses against workers.

The absence of a law regulating the labor market mediated by delivery and ride-hailing websites still creates a vacuum for the courts to decide on increasingly frequent cases of requests for employment relationships with these platforms, explains the lawyer.

“If we already had legislation, this discussion wouldn’t be so fundamental. For now, the Supreme Court has to use the Constitution as a basis for judging these cases, since we don’t have a law.”

Regulatory bill

In April, the Chamber's plenary session was about to vote on the report by Congressman Augusto Courinho (Republicanos-PE) regarding the bill regulating app-based work, but a lack of consensus within the government stalled the discussion. However, the government refused to reach an agreement, and the issue remained unresolved in an election year.

The text stipulated a fixed price of R$ 8.50 for short-distance deliveries (only for delivery drivers, not including drivers who transport passengers) and also proposed payment by the hour as an alternative form of compensation.

However, Minister Guilherme Boulos (General Secretariat) insisted on a fixed fare of R$ 10 per ride and strongly opposed Courinho's proposal, which has practically paralyzed the vote until today, according to sources in Congress and political platforms.