Os meios de comunicação como extensões dos pressupostos da relação de emprego: compreendendo os canais iFood e Rappi para entregadores

Abstract

Freedom, autonomy, flexible working hours, and the absence of a boss. These are some of the ideals systematically promoted in the videos published on iFood’s and Rappi’s YouTube channels aimed at motorcycle and bicycle delivery workers — “iFood para Entregadores” and “Rappi Entregador” — and internalized within the social imaginary. The promise of working without having any obligations. However, a closer examination, made possible by recording and cataloging the content of the 235 videos available on both channels at the time of data collection, reveals advertisement that dictates the many obligations of a job that refuses to be called work. All the videos contained, in addition to claims of the delivery drivers’ subjective, financial, or legal independence, at least one of the well-known elements of the employment relationship as defined by Brazil’s Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT). This dissertation categorizes the themes of the videos according to the elements set forth in Articles 2 and 3 of the CLT, as a snapshot of the channels’ content at that particular moment. The analysis takes into account that YouTube, the medium, is also the message, which makes documenting this information even more complex, since content on digital platforms is subject to constant changes. Moving away from dataism, this study lays bare the technobehaviorist structure of the discourse in order to access the elements of the employment relationship.