Support points
Support points are essential for platform drivers and couriers to carry out their work, offering safe places for resting, eating and hygiene.
Adequate Spaces and Working on Platforms
Deliverers and drivers of digital platforms, especially transport and delivery platforms, are often waiting to be called into work without having a support point at their disposal.
These places are important for the performance of the job itself and are provided for in Regulatory Standard 24 (NR-24), which applies to workers on digital platforms.
Support points must be suitable for workers to eat, use the toilets, sanitize their hands, change their clothes, charge their cell phones or even talk to their colleagues.
The lack of adequate places to rest, eat, have access to toilets and drinking water makes it more difficult for the majority of couriers and drivers on digital platforms to carry out their work.
This infrastructure is especially relevant in urban areas, where mobility is intense and commuting can be exhausting, aggravated by adverse weather conditions such as extreme heat or rain.
Support points also help to reduce physical and mental stress, contributing to workers' health and well-being.
The Importance of Support Points
Scientific research has shown that app-based drivers and couriers often work long and exhausting hours. They are also subject to a system of promotions and bonuses run by the platforms.
In the work system imposed by many delivery and transportation platforms, drivers and delivery drivers need to be available for long periods of time, especially during peak demand times.
This time at the disposal of the platforms is further increased by the fact that the urban centers where drivers and couriers usually work are often far from their homes.
The deprivation of adequate rest for many workers in high-risk professions, such as app-based drivers and couriers, who depend on their attention and reflexes, potentially increases the number of traffic accidents at work.
This risk can also be exacerbated by a lack of water intake (dehydration), a condition that can affect workers' concentration, as well as increasing their physical fatigue, as scientific research has shown.
"The app doesn't give us a tent, nowhere to charge our cell phones. If it's raining, we stay under a building. That's our life."
Interviewee of the survey Working conditions, rights and social dialogue for workers in the app delivery sector in Brasilia and Recife
The Creation of Support Points
Not least, support points are one of the main demands of the categories of platform drivers and couriers who, in recent years, have won important regulations, mainly at municipal level, requiring platforms to establish and maintain support points, as was the case in the Federal District and Goiânia (GO), Santos (SP), Juiz de Fora (MG) and Porto Alegre (RS).
Among these, the case of the Federal District, the first unit of the federation to legislate on the subject, deserves to be highlighted. The demand for support points was one of the demands made by delivery workers during the national strike - the Breque dos Apps - in 2020.
It was in this context of delivery workers' demands that Law No. 6.677/2020 was passed. This legislation establishes guidelines on the creation of support points for delivery and individual transportation app workers in the Administrative Regions of the Federal District.
However, four years after the law came into force, in the case of drivers, the only point they can count on, Brasília Airport, is deteriorating. There are complaints about the cleanliness of the toilets, as well as the lack of showers, changing rooms, space for meals or a support room with internet and electricity.
The situation for delivery workers is similar, as they only have one support point in the Federal District, which is also in precarious working conditions.