‘Digital MEI’ proposal for couriers jams between government and applications

Debated in the middle of this year with the private sector, the government’s proposal to create a digital MEI for application deliverers did not meet the stipulated deadlines and, according to those involved in the discussion, stuck and should not go forward.

The idea on the negotiating table created the MED — a kind of individual micro-entrepreneur aimed at “digital workers.” The Ministry of Labor and Social Security intended to deliver the final draft of an interim measure to Congress in September.

The sector’s expectation is that the government proposes a complementary bill. Wanted, the Ministry of Economy did not comment.

The MED’s objective was to encompass several activities intermediated by the internet, starting with the delivery of goods from platforms such as Ube Eats, iFood and Rappi, which would total around 1.5 million couriers.

At MED, deliverymen obligatorily contributed with R$ 55 per month to obtain retirement due to length of service, sick pay, pension and paternity or maternity leave. There was no closed model on the form of funding, whether it would come out of the company’s or the worker’s pocket.

The government held some meetings with company representatives and debated the creation of a technological system that would connect all platforms in order to organize the contribution of delivery people operating in different applications at the same time.

One of the obstacles to the project’s evolution was the low collection of the MEI model, which would not compensate the public coffers in view of the government’s expenditure for social benefits. It would be a loss-making model for the Revenue.

The government even considered a collection with the same CLT percentage, on average 27.5%, which did not please the companies. Thereafter, the meetings ceased. Some groups of couriers complained that they had not been called to the discussion.

There are more than 20 projects in Congress that deal with the activity of delivery people. Current legislation authorizes motorcycle couriers and cyclists who work with delivery to register with the MEI or contribute to INSS individually. Adherence is not mandatory and many work outside of this regimen.

While the discussion held in this group, a committee of the Chamber of Deputies held a hearing last week to debate the professional regularization of the deliverymen, a discussion that did not reach a consensus and that should last in the coming months.

On the occasion, the president of the National Support Front for Self-Employed Drivers, Paulo Xavier Júnior, stated that 99% of self-employed people do not want to have a formal contract. The MPT (Ministry of Labor) defended that there is an employment relationship and Fecomercio and business associations were in favor of the MEI, without recognition of the relationship.

Sindimoto, which mobilized part of the deliverymen in street demonstrations in São Paulo in 2020 and defends the job, was not called to the hearing or to the group that debated the MED.

The lack of regulation has moved lawsuits in court. In all, there are 625 proceedings against application companies.

The MPT has already filed four actions against 99, Uber, Rappi and Lalamove, requesting that the Court recognize employment relationships with drivers and deliverymen — motoboys and cyclists.

“There is a subtle control mechanism for the operation of the activity. Companies claim that people turn on the application whenever they want, but if they don’t call, they receive a message, if they refuse races, they get a low grade. Many don’t pay the INSS, the accidents increased in the pandemic and the SUS was saved”, says Tadeu Lopes da Cunha, coordinator of Conafret (Fighting Fraud in Labor Relations) at the MPT.

The companies, both Uber and 99, counter that the Superior Labor Court has already recognized, in five judgments, one this week, that there is no link.

Amobitec (Brazilian Association of Mobility and Technology), which represents iFood, believes that the best way to protect these workers is to ensure that they are effectively integrated into the public pension system.

“It is also understood that an effective integration needs to help them overcome bureaucratic obstacles and maintain their flexibility and autonomy, guaranteeing partners the freedom to choose the days, hours and forms of work, without imposing shifts or workloads minimum, allowing their free entry and exit from the platforms”, he states in a note.

From the 13th to the 15th of December, iFood will bring together registered delivery workers at a national forum in São Paulo to debate demands of the category. The meeting was considered a victory for deliverymen, who claimed lack of dialogue with companies during the pandemic.