From smartphone to ballot box - the new challenge for the President of Brazil
Lula launched his election campaign in the place where he led historic labor strikes, but he faces a new generation of app workers who are distancing themselves from unions and the left. In his party, they admit: "The world of work has undergone a fundamental change."
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched his election campaign ahead of the October contest from the legendary stadium in São Bernardo do Campo, the place where in 1979 he led massive metalworker strikes that launched his political career. However, five decades later, the veteran left-wing leader finds himself facing a completely different economic reality: a young generation of "gig economy" and digital app workers who feel disconnected from the traditional labor unions that once formed his power base.
According to a report by the Reuters news agency, Lula spoke before about 20,000 supporters and thanked the workers who have believed in him over the years, but simultaneously admitted that "the world of work has undergone a fundamental change" and that the Workers' Party must adapt its messages to those who are not employed in a formal capacity. Data in Brazil illustrates the depth of the traditional left's crisis: the rate of unionized workers in the country has dropped to less than 9%, and the rate of those employed in formal jobs has fallen to 38.2%, while the number of those employed through digital platforms has jumped by about 170% in the last decade, reaching about 2.1 million people.
Lula's administration is trying to promote legislation to regulate working conditions and social security for ride-hailing drivers and couriers, alongside shortening the work week. However, these initiatives have met with resistance from technology companies and suspicion from the workers themselves, who see government regulation as a blow to employment flexibility and a tax burden.
This lack of trust is being exploited by his main rival on the right, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who simultaneously launched his election campaign in Rio de Janeiro with promises to encourage private entrepreneurship and ease the burden on small businesses. Surveys among platform workers show that the vast majority of them prefer to define themselves as entrepreneurs and lean toward right-wing and centrist positions, a dramatic political challenge for a party trying to remain relevant in a changing employment reality.
