A inserção da Uber em uma região periférica: uma análise sobre os seus efeitos no mercado de trabalho e na trajetória de motoristas por aplicativo no Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

This research is part of studies referring to current forms of work and its object of analysis is the insertion of the platform-company Uber, in a region historically marked by a pattern of precarious work relations. Our analysis consisted in a realization of a double effort in the problematization of this object: 1) the insertion of Uber in Brazil, in the Northeast region and in Rio Grande do Norte, and how the forms of control and management of this platform company have been articulated to the pattern of work relations in such spaces; 2) apprehend the practices and strategies that have been established by drivers by app, which is a relevant dimension to analyze the effects of the dissemination of services mediated by apps and the remodeling that these are generating on working conditions. We were interested in knowing, fundamentally, what are the implications generated by the insertion of Uber and how it has been articulated to a structurally precarious and flexible pattern of work relations such as the one that exists in Brazil, notably, in the Northeast region. This constituted the central problem of this research. Our hypothesis is that Uber's management model and work organization, which we treat as paradigmatic in platform capitalism, have updated, with modern information technologies, the pattern of work relations historically existing in Brazil and in the Northeast region, preserving structuring aspects, such as precariousness, flexibility and, mostly, the centrality of informality. We verified this through the survey of socioeconomic data referring to these spaces and by analyzing the work trajectory of drivers by app. Finally, we observed and demonstrated that this updating does not occur without producing tensions and new contradictions in labor relations.