The Collective Organization of Delivery Workers in Brazil during the covid-19 Pandemic: A View Based on Social Media

Abstract

Abstract This essay presents the results of a study on the work organization of food-delivery workers that use digital platforms in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The covid-19 pandemic exacerbated and increased the visibility of the precarious work conditions experienced by these workers, who have organized collectively throughout Brazil to demand better conditions. Based on the field of workers’ health and sociological analyses of work’s uberization, the study used a qualitative methodology with a data survey in online social networks and news coverage during the pandemic, complementing research-intervention strategies involving dialogues with delivery workers before the pandemic. The results feature the delivery app workers’ collective mobilization and the trend in their identification as a professional category in the midst of contradictions and complexities of this process, which became emblematic with the two national strikes held in July 2020.