Modalidades de contratación a medida. La intermediación digital en el trabajo doméstico en Argentina

Abstract

In the field of studies on digital intermediaries in the domestic and care work sector, some studies claim that they exacerbate and perpetuate the precariousness of work in the sector and the social inequalities that underpin it, while others highlight the ambivalence of their effects. Drawing on these perspectives, but focusing on the organizational structures that digital platforms adopt, the article proposes to understand the differential effects of the different modes of intervention that they develop in each context according to their specificity. Based on the study of the digital platform Zolvers in Argentina, the article analyzes how it adapts to a sector of activity crossed by two opposing trends: the formalization of labor relations and the increase in hourly work. This adaptation has resulted in three types of contract: regular contracts managed by the digital platform, regular contracts managed by the employer households and temporary contracts. Although domestic workers use these modalities indistinctly, even accumulating jobs that correspond to all of them, the effects in terms of working conditions are very different. While the first two fall within the legal framework governing the sector, the third falls outside of the scope. In the first, the intervention of the platform produces a kind of automation of the respect of certain rights. The regular contracting modality without platform management produces more heterogeneous working conditions because the legal framework is questioned in its application by employers. In the temporary mode, working conditions are extremely precarious as they are sporadic jobs lasting only a few hours. This research used a quantitative-qualitative methodology that included a survey of 300 domestic workers, 20 semi-directed interviews with workers, two focus groups with workers and four focus groups with employers using Zolvers.