There are those who were suspended or directly dismissed from their jobs. Also, those who keep their jobs but the salary does not reach them, and then go out to do "changas". And there are many who have come from other countries (in particular from Venezuela and Colombia) that need to enter the labor market quickly.
In any case, Uber, Rappi, Glovo and PedidosYA are presented as the most handy solution to obtain an income, with a plus: they can even manage their time, number of hours and time of day.
Although technological evolution is one of the reasons why these companies grew considerably, there are others that give them greater impetus, such as traffic chaos, overpopulation in metropolitan areas and the need for businesses to get rid of their own delivery to lower costs. And, perhaps the most important, the "legal vein" that allows hundreds of delivery people to be "factureros" and not in a dependency relationship, which is the underlying reason behind the business.
Faced with the prospects that the current crisis extends over time, platforms of this type that brings the "economy 4.0" are presented as a great lifeline to surf the hectic recessive waters.
"These are modalities that allow an almost immediate job exit, you only need to be registered as an independent to be able to bill for the service In Capital, at least 150,000 people benefit from these platforms," ââsays lawyer María Solana de Diego, from the study of Diego & Associates.
Juan Carlos Cerutti, labor lawyer, has a contrasting vision. "They are structures that offer to work in a precarious way, at the most they can serve for a first job and for a short time".
Beyond the different opinions and positions, the truth is that there are many people who have joined. First, because it is difficult to get a job in Argentina; secondly, because it is easy to enter: it does not require great knowledge, nor a good CV and, on the side of the apps, these incorporations do not represent greater risks, not having to pay severance payments (no social charges, plus holiday, bonus, ..., among other items).
Rapid work output in the face of the economic crisis
Glovo, more than a year after its arrival in the country, has about 150 employees in its local branch and more than 6,000 delivery people.
Of that total, half are Argentines and the rest of Haiti, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Venezuela. In addition, eight out of 10 are between 18 and 34 years old.
In the case of Uber, "in the last three months approximately 55,000 people generated revenues driving through the app in Argentina, and every week there are another 2,500," says iProUP Juan Labaqui, communications manager for Uber Cono Sur.
"The driving partners generate their income during the time they want, but almost 70% drive less than 20 hours a week," he adds. From the signature they indicate that "20% declares that it did not have source of income until before downloading the application of the signature".
On the side of Cabify, which emphasizes the legality of its service, the total number of drivers is close to 12,500 (it had 5,000 in 2017), although from the firm they prefer not to give official data.
From Rappi they affirm to iProUP that they already have more than 5,000 deliveries in the country, while from the environment of PedidosYa they express that, after the restructuring, the total of distributors is around 1,000. Of that total, one in four continues working in a dependency relationship.
However, Solana de Diego says that within the scope of labor lawyers it is estimated that the total number amounts to more than 350,000 people. This estimate includes those who currently work and those who have used them at least once on a temporary basis.
Precarization or employment "4.0"?
The great discussion about these forms of employment lies in whether the delivery drivers - or drivers in the case of Uber - should be considered employees in a dependency relationship.
"In England and Spain, to cite some examples, there were already failures that determined that they are employees of the company, being working between 10 and 12 hours every day," says Cerutti, for whom there is precarization and, in addition, tax evasion .
"PedidosYA, which initially had them in order, had to dismiss more than 500 because competitors emerged, such as Rappi or Glovo, who work with 'collaborators', which clearly constitutes evasion," he says.
On the opposite side, for De Diego, the very advance of technology is what gives rise to the birth of new forms of work, and this requires an adaptation of the labor legislation so that the regulations are adapted to the times.
"First there were Amazon, Alibaba, Airbnb, exchange platforms in which anyone can show their products and services," the lawyer says, adding: "The digital platform acts as mediator, the seller and the buyer do not have any There is only the civil and commercial issues of a transaction, but nothing work".
"It seems that when this same concept is taken to other platforms, such as Rappi, Glovo or Uber, it is distorted, even though they have the same functionality." The truth is that it is a tripartite link in which the platform is only an intermediary so that a person can make an extra money, I do not see that there is a labor link, but a new way of connecting and working ", De Diego points out.
The problem, according to the lawyer, is the current regulations: "We are the most expensive country in Latin America in labor taxes.Our legislation dates back to the year 75 and 44 years ago this technology did not exist, therefore, we do not have a specific norm that regulate the activity of these platforms".
"Our company provides an intermediation service between a driving partner and a user who, through the platform, can enter into a contract of transport between private entities, this type of agreement is provided for in the Civil and Commercial Code of the Nation", complements the head of Uber.
For Cerutti an option to clarify this type of hiring would be to assign another category to this type of employment. "They should have a guaranteed minimum: health insurance, accidents, a minimum retirement," he says.
The problem is that in Argentina a large number of companies find it difficult to keep their employees blank because they are forced to allocate almost 50% more than the salary in hand (net) to comply with the law.
For De Diego, the solution is to regulate and set clear standards. And he gives as an example the system of Italy, since it has an intermediate figure: "The distributors, although they are independent, have ART".
Hard reverse for Glovo, Rappi and PedidosYA
Recently the Justice ordered the Government of the City of Buenos Aires to cease the activity of bicycle delivery companies. The ruling of judge Roberto Andrés Gallardo prohibits the activity of the firms Rappi Argentina, Kadabra (Glovo) and PedidosYa until they prove they have complied with the minimum legal requirements.
At the same time, it establishes the design and execution of an economic and social contingency plan for all the distributors that compensates for the reduction of their income until the situation is normalized, through the Ministry of Human Development and Habitat.
Faced with this measure, from Glovo they were "very in agreement with generating a working table and an open debate until reaching an agreement beneficial for all".
In a much more reactionary way, the Rappi company expressed that it is a measure that "affects the entire urban messenger industry and delivery at home and puts at risk the continuity of the sources of income of thousands of people".
In the case of Uber, although this ruling does not directly affect its business, for Labaqui "technology today plays a very important role when it comes to generating economic opportunities that were previously not available because they allow channeling through applications an unsatisfied demand that it was not structured, it was not visible. "
Solana de Diego is forceful: "I think it would be a serious legal, political, economic and social error to categorize these companies into a work contract because it would automatically destroy these economies of collaborative work. country".
In Brazil it happened. Glovo announced just a few weeks ago that it would cease to operate because it is an extremely competitive market. However, there are those who say that the reasons have to do with a labor framework that determines that the distributors should be considered in relation of dependence.
For the lawyer, what is needed in Argentina is "a decree that excludes them from the Labor Contract Law, which says that this is part of the civil and commercial jurisdiction".
However, technological change is irreversible. Today are these applications, tomorrow will be others. Failures will continue to arise, partial measures, but if it is not the state that embraces and foresees evolution 4.0, incorporating the new forms of work of the so-called collaborative economy, a legal vacuum will remain.
