“Food delivery workers call for a national strike in Brazil” – 20 May 2020

… Since April, workers for food delivery apps controlled by large transnational companies have engaged in a series of strikes and job actions in a number of countries including Brazil, Spain, Ecuador and Argentina. Their demands are the same: better delivery rates, safer working conditions and for the multimillion-dollar companies to supply essential protective equipment that has been paid for by the workers themselves. In Brazil, these mobilizations are deeply connected to the strikes by other workers, such as call center operators and health professionals, whose jobs have been decreed essential services during the coronavirus pandemic but have been denied safe working conditions. The job actions have not stopped. On May 14, food delivery workers in Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, organized a protest shutting down the iFood application for two hours… The WSWS spoke to Carlos Alberto, who is one of the organizers of the movement and has been a food delivery worker for nine years. According to him, the call for the strike was influenced by the stoppages carried out by food delivery workers in the capital of São Paulo, who have become an example for workers in other regions. “The idea is that we gain strength and claim our rights. We can’t continue like this,” he said. During the COVID-19 crisis, their working conditions, which were already fundamentally precarious, have worsened. The dismissal of workers without justification and the lack of communication with the companies are common…