Clad in Bermuda shorts and flip-flops, Joao Paulo Teixeira zips through traffic on his electric scooter to deliver a meal in downtown Rio de Janeiro.
The 20-year-old Brazilian belongs to a booming new professional class of delivery workers, precarious by nature but increasingly organised in defence of their rights.
It is also a group being increasingly courted as an October presidential election draws near.
“Deliveries are like crack. I can’t go without them. It’s my only source of income. When I’m not working, I think about how much I’d be earning if I were out riding,” Teixeira said.
And ride he does, for over 10 hours a day, six days a week, stringing together as many deliveries as possible to earn between 700 and 1,000 reais a week ($135 to $197).
That is significantly more than the monthly minimum wage of 1,621 reais in Brazil, a nation of 213 million people where the unemployment rate is low, but the informal sector accounts for a large share of the workforce.
In April, Teixeira took part in a day of major protests against a bill aimed at regulating the activities of delivery and ride-hailing drivers working through digital platforms. Protesters argue that the minimum income set in the law for each trip is far too low.
Thousands of these workers took to the streets in major Brazilian cities, prompting lawmakers to indefinitely postpone consideration of the bill.
According to the latest available official data, Brazil had 274,000 app-based delivery workers in 2024, but experts say this number is significantly underestimated.
This professional group has seen a massive boom since the pandemic. It is highly sought after, not only because of the sheer number of delivery workers but also due to their capacity for collective action,” Nicolas Souza Santos, co-founder of the National Alliance of App-Based Delivery Workers (Anea), said.
In October, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will seek a fourth non-consecutive term in office at the age of 80. He is facing a tight race against Flavio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula’s government has shown support for an increase in the minimum income per trip for gig workers.
In May, the administration also announced a series of measures aimed at delivery workers, including favourable credit terms for purchasing motorcycles.
And both sides of the political spectrum in Congress have introduced various proposals to improve conditions for the sector.
Left-wing lawmaker Taliria Petrone introduced a bill to require delivery platforms to provide a meal allowance for delivery workers, people who bring food to others, yet often go hungry themselves.
On the conservative side, congressman Daniel Agrobom has established a parliamentary front dedicated to defending the interests of delivery workers and rideshare drivers.
“They want autonomy and freedom, and that is what we are fighting for,” he asserts, while also expressing support for regulation to ensure they can work safely and receive fair compensation.
Ricardo Festi, from the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Brasilia, noted that the political left, which has always been embedded within the formal sector through labour unions, struggles more to engage with precarious workers.
Leticia Birchal Domingues, a professor of political science at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, said, “in Brazil there was a strong consolidation of people on the right and on the left, with well-defined profiles.”
However, gig workers like delivery riders formed a more ‘ambiguous’ category, and she explained that their votes are still up for grabs.
Paulo Almeida, a 36-year-old rider, voted for Jair Bolsonaro in the last presidential election, but he is unsure whether he will vote for Flavio this October.
“I still don’t know which side will be most favourable to me,” said the former driving instructor, who began making deliveries by bicycle two years ago in order to earn a little extra money while having more free time.
Guilherme Matias, 23, said that he now earns double the salary he made when he worked as a waiter.
He took part in the April protests but feels unrepresented by politicians, who only care about their own interests.
