Rio de Janeiro law requires apps to provide backpacks to delivery drivers
The new law, approved by the Alerj (Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro), was signed into law by the governor.
Mariana Tokarnia – Reporter for Agência Brasil
Delivery apps in Rio de Janeiro will be required to provide free thermal bags used by delivery drivers to transport snacks and goods. The bags must be provided exclusively by the platforms and must display the app's logos and be individually numbered for easy tracking.
The law regulating the measure was approved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj), sanctioned by Governor Cláudio Castro and published in an extra edition of the Executive's Official Gazette on Tuesday (15). The rule will come into force within 90 days.
The new law requires companies to keep an up-to-date record of all equipment issued to each employee. Bags must be thermally insulated and properly sealed, and delivery platforms must replace them in cases of wear, damage, or proven need.
In case of non-compliance, companies may have their service temporarily suspended and may have to pay a fine of R$5 for each bag provided in violation of the rule.
Benefits
According to the director of the Motoboy and Bike Union (UMB) of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Tassiano Alves, the measure is positive for workers, who today often have to bear the cost of backpacks, which cost around R$170, the equivalent of two days' work.
Alves explained that a delivery person uses, on average, depending on the weight of the orders they carry and the quality of the material of the bags, two backpacks per year.
“We saw it as a positive point, but with suspicion, because we don't know if this law will actually come into effect,” he said.
According to Alves, there are platforms that already deliver backpacks for free, but irregularly.
"For example, in December, it will be almost two years since I received a new one. They do it randomly, using the app's algorithm," he complains.
Another way to receive work materials is to attend brand events, where backpacks, shirts, and other materials are distributed, but Alves said that not all delivery people are notified of these events.
According to Alves, while these events were more frequent at the beginning of the apps' operations in Brazil, they are increasingly rare today.
He also emphasizes that backpacks are just one of the workers' needs.
"The ideal would be to formalize the category, to achieve greater professionalization. It would be much more beneficial for everyone, because we would have more rights," he argues.
"We need countless other things, like more support points. We'd need at least one for every two neighborhoods. Because often, people have to heat up food and don't have a place to go to the bathroom, especially women. [The delivery person] needs a place to charge their cell phone, a place to eat. On rainy days, I've even had to eat while it was pouring rain," he says.
Risco
One of the reasons for the new law is to identify delivery drivers to prevent robberies by people who buy generic handbags and pretend to work as app delivery drivers.
One of the fears of delivery drivers is that platforms will not comply with the new rules and that workers who will be forced to buy their own backpacks, using non-customized equipment, will be persecuted and punished.
Federal law
The president of the Brazilian Association of App-Based and Independent Motorcycle Couriers (AMA-BR), Edgar Francisco da Silva, argues that it is necessary to comply with Law 12.009/09, which regulates the service of motorcycle couriers and motorcycle taxi drivers and establishes safety rules for these activities, and not to propose new state or municipal laws.
“In my opinion, we have to comply with federal law and not invent these new trends or build extensions,” he says.
"Federal law requires that people practicing this high-risk profession be trained, use safety equipment, and undergo a process of adaptation. Then, they meet a standard. You don't often see taxi drivers robbing others because they follow a standard. You don't often see bus drivers robbing others. Then the motorcycle will have its own standard, and it will be difficult for a criminal to impersonate someone who is actually practicing the profession," he argues.
According to Francisco da Silva, federal law is not enforced, and when there is some type of inspection, it is the worker who ends up being punished for not complying with safety standards.
"Companies that hire illegally must be punished. These days, if anyone tries to enforce this law, they'll punish the delivery driver who's not following it. Why are they not following it? Because the app allows it."
Costs
Delivery platforms criticized the new law, claiming it imposes excessive and ineffective costs on the apps. In a statement, the Brazilian Association of Mobility and Technology (Amobitec), which represents technology companies such as 99, Alibaba, Amazon, Buser, iFood, Flixbus, Lalamove, nocnoc, Shein, Uber, and Zé Delivery, says the new law imposes "excessive operational costs and burdens on the sector, without guaranteeing effective improvements in security, as they are difficult to implement and monitor, in addition to being susceptible to fraud."
The association also considers that new obligations “constitute a disproportionate intervention by the State in the dynamics of the functioning of legitimate and already regulated economic activities”.
“Amobitec believes that there are more effective and collaborative ways to achieve the objectives set out in the standards,” it argues.
