How Tech Is Affording Changes in Brazil’s Favelas
David Nemer, a professor at the University of Virginia and author of the book Technology of the Oppressed: Inequity and the Digital Mundane in Favelas of Brazil, will discuss how residents of Brazil’s favelas have appropriated technology to improve their quality of life and build community resilience.
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Workplace Surveillance on Digital Platform
Fernanda Bruno talks about the excessive monitoring of platform workers. She contends that the technology these workers use constantly observes and controls them, which has an adverse effect on both their private and professional lives. Using alternative technology and organizing resistance are just a few of the strategies Bruno suggests for thwarting this monitoring and control. While some of these strategies may be more successful than others, all of them provide platform workers with a way to regain a degree of control over their workplace.
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Unisol: Protecting the Rights of Brazil’s Informal Workers
Unisol, the Union of Cooperatives and Solidarity Enterprises, is an offshoot of the Brazilian labor union movement and the progressive political movement. It was started by the metal workers’ union of the Labor Party (PT) and is a member of the International Cooperative Alliance. Unisol’s stated goal is to protect and promote the interests of workers in the so-called “informal economy” – those who are not protected by traditional labor laws and lack the bargaining power that comes with formal employment. In recent years, Unisol has been at the forefront of efforts to address the exploitation of gig workers and other vulnerable sectors of the workforce. Leo Pinho will discuss the problem of workers without rights, new proposals for work regulation, and platform coops as an alternative to having more negotiating power.
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File Swap
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***Archival video of this segment is available here.***
Speakers
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David Nemer Assistant Professor, Department of Media Studies and Department of Latin American Studies, University of Virginia
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Leo Pinho President, UNISOL Brasil
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Fernanda Bruno Associate Professor, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro