Uberization of work: a new phenomenon among schoolteachers in São Paulo State, Brazil?

Abstract:

This essay aims to problematize and discuss the degree to which uberization of work can actually be characterized as a new phenomenon. The study is based on qualitative research and document analysis concerning hiring formats for teachers from 1999 to 2017. The article reconstructs the historical process of labor relations under the São Paulo state government, Brazil, marked by intentional flexibilization and oriented by the intrinsic principles of New Public Management. Beyond the digital economy, Uber has propagated even more flexible methods than those seen after industrial restructuring, promoting and featuring workers without contracts, the intensification of work, and minimal earnings. The parallel with teaching revisits the historical roots of precarious labor relations with teachers and shows that such characteristics are not a new phenomenon for the teaching profession. The study shows similar characteristics to those practiced by Uber and concludes that there is a process of quasi-uberization of teaching. The study also identifies strong signs of the dismantling of teachers’ collective representation, since the profession is divided into three groups. Each group shows specific characteristics that accentuate the nuances in the individualization of work, a strategy coupled with managerialism and the observation that neoliberalism affects individuals, altering values and subjectivities, extolling competition and individualism in work processes.

Keywords:
Working Conditions; Teachers; Management; Public Sector