O trabalho na era digital e a atuação do Poder Judiciário: uma análise dos direitos trabalhistas dos motoristas em empresas-plataforma

Abstract

This thesis sought to understand the process of platformization of work within the scope of the flexible accumulation pattern, as well as the role of Law and the State in legitimizing precarious labor, highlighting Brazilian specificities. It addressed, in general terms, the debates on the State and Law in the Marxist and liberal traditions, in order to scrutinize the theoretical and analytical foundations of its conception regarding the productions and reproductions of social relations, in particular, the State, Law and, in this case, Labor Law. It investigated the paths taken by the crises in the pattern of capitalist accumulation, especially after the 1970s, for the construction of the new pattern of flexible accumulation and the consequences of this movement for the precariousness of the contemporary world of work. This study made it possible to recognize the worsening of workers' precariousness as a consequence of the process of restructuring the accumulation pattern and the complex implications for workers in Brazil – a country of peripheral and dependent capitalism. Brazilian particularities could be observed through the study of its economic models and its process of production and reproduction of the capitalist system. It was seen, therefore, that the working class has greater conditions of exploitation and domination, also due to the reduction in the scope of Labor Law, a specialized legal branch created to guarantee a minimum level of civilization and dignity for workers. The theoretical construction proposed in the thesis was exemplified with the analysis of the category of workers/drivers on work platforms, whose birthplace occurred with the expansion of the use of information and communication technology with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Thus, through the analysis of the votes cast by the Ministers of the Superior Labor Court, in the delimited period of 2019-2022, on the recognition of the employment relationship between drivers and platform companies, it is possible to infer the tension in legal understandings based on the divergent decisions made by the Ministers of that court. This perception legally ratifies the deepening of labor exploitation observed today and the need for constant resistance from the working class in search of the application of Labor Law and achievements of recognition of labor rights in their working conditions and relationships.