The Government seeks to set a salary for distributors of “apps” by law

The national government decided to advance in the regulation by law of the labor market of delivery for applications, with the idea of ​​considering the worker as an employee of the company for which he operates, with the right to compensation, paid vacations, bonus and risk and medical insurance.

This is indicated by the bill drawn up by three labor lawyers who advise Labor Minister Claudio Moroni. “It is a political decision to regulate a part of the work via platforms,” ​​explained a source with knowledge of the subject.

The official objective is that this can be turned to the Congress during the next two weeks. It will go to the Labor and Social Welfare Commissions of the Senate and Deputies. Companies and various trade union associations will be convened to discuss it. The debate for the sanction in the enclosure would take place at the end of April or May.

The initiative will give a regulatory framework only to the courier, delivery or delivery, a service currently offered in Argentina by companies such as Orders Ya, Glovo, Rappi and UberEats, with between 60,000 and 80,000 people active, according to official calculations.

The text does not exceed that universe, so it will not reach transport services like Uber.

Context

The project takes sides around the existing debate since these companies were created about whether the worker is self-employed, is a small business owner or an employee in a dependency relationship.

Although there is no uniform international standard yet, part of the global jurisprudence has been taken into account for the drafting, such as judgments handed down by Justice in California (United States), Great Britain, Spain, France, Italy and Brazil.

The Government thus dismissed the idea of ​​the autonomy of the worker of a app and the third way of considering it economically independent. If the law is sanctioned with the original spirit, the dealer will be considered as an employee of the firm with which it operates.

This will be in a specific statute for the sector, which completes the regulation of the most complex aspects for those who needed a modulation by the type of task they perform, either as a single activity or as a complementary income.

“The project is designed from the perspective of the worker, who freely decides when to start work and when to stop doing it, to log in and log out,” said a qualified source with knowledge of the initiative.

The idea of ​​the “sovereignty of working time”, contemplated in the study of the Commission on the Future of Work, published in December by the International Labor Organization (ILO) has been taken for the project.

This work urged member countries (among which is Argentina) to take measures that facilitate an autonomy of working time that meets the needs of workers and companies.

A complex mission, due to the bidding of interests between one sector and another, which basically seeks to limit labor exploitation and limit working hours. The ILO recommends taking advantage of technology to expand opportunities and reconcile professional and personal life, attacking the pressures arising from the blurring of the dividing line between working time and private time.

In the Government they assure that with this initiative that has the spirit of what the ILO recommends will be given a “moderate labor projection to the particularities of a link that is established by the will of the worker”.

All the details

The project contemplates a remuneration structure in accordance with the freedom and hours of effective work performance of the worker. An initial payment will be established that is equal to the Minimum, Vital and Mobile Salary, currently at 16,875 pesos.

But that minimum income for the worker will be determined proportionally to the hours of effective work throughout the month. And it will be combined with a remuneration that is established for the time required for delivery and for waiting.

Likewise, the initiative increases the remuneration in the case that the worker uses to carry out the task own means, such as bicycle, motorcycle and even the cell phone in which the worker operates. app.

There will also be an additional service provision with climatic adversity: this will be perceived, for example, on stormy days. And, perhaps most importantly, the worker will be entitled to paid vacations, bonus and compensation.

A disease protection regime will also be established, which will be made up of a reserve fund with contributions from employers, equivalent to three average daily salaries.

“Absolutely everything will be modeled to the particularities of the link. And everything will be calculated with an average of the amount received in the month by the worker determined by the statute, ”said the sources consulted.

This, they say in the Government, will not run overnight. There will be a period for companies to adapt to this regularization process. “This balances the viability of the business model with the inalienable obligation to protect those who work,” the source said.

And the company will be able to “disconnect” a worker definitively if in 30 days he does not connect to offer his services. However, says the initiative, this will generate a “right to compensation” in favor of the worker.

Add to this the obligation for the company to hire a Work Risk Insurance (ART). And the worker will be granted the “right to information, to receive data about the algorithm that is used, what are the criteria for the granting of tasks”.

In the same way, the worker will have collective rights: union association, collective bargaining and strike.

The workers’ vision

Juan Manuel Ottaviano, lawyer of the Platform Personnel Association (APP), told this media that he is excited about the project because it is prepared from a worker protection perspective and against “labor fraud”.

“It is very positive that the Government is encouraged to discuss under what conditions the jobs of the future will take place. The incursion of advanced technology in the labor market requires some innovation in regulation, but without neglecting the legal framework, ”he said.

At present, according to Ottaviano, the companies that provide the service “decide how much they pay” to the workers, who “have no right to make any kind of proposal, request, claim or suggestion”.