From smartphone to ballot box - the new challenge of Brazil's president

Lula da Silva opened his election campaign in Brazil at the site of historic workers' strikes, but faces a new generation of app workers who are distancing themselves from unions and the left. His party admitted that the world of work has undergone a fundamental change. Data show a decline in unionization and formal employment, and a sharp rise in the number of platform workers, who identify more with the right and center.

Brazil's President Lula da Silva opened his election campaign at the site where he led historic workers' strikes, but faces a new challenge: a generation of app workers who are moving away from unions and the left. According to a Reuters report, Lula spoke to about 20,000 supporters and thanked workers, but also admitted that "the world of work has undergone a fundamental change" and that the Workers' Party must adapt its message to those not employed in a formal framework. The data illustrate the crisis: the unionization rate has fallen to less than 9%, formal employment has dropped to 38.2%, and the number of digital platform workers has surged by about 170% in the last decade to about 2.1 million people. The Lula government is promoting legislation to regulate working conditions and social insurance for ride-hailing drivers and delivery workers, along with shortening the workweek, but faces opposition from tech companies and suspicion from workers who see regulation as harming flexibility and imposing a tax burden. His main right-wing rival, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, launched his campaign in Rio de Janeiro with promises to encourage private entrepreneurship and ease the burden on small businesses. Polls show that most platform workers prefer to define themselves as entrepreneurs and lean right and center, a dramatic political challenge for the Workers' Party.