Os sentidos do trabalho e a satisfação de trabalhadores informais: Um estudo com vendedores de comidas de rua no contexto da pandemia Covid-19 em Parnaíba-pi

Abstract

Measures related to social isolation to contain the speed of transmission of Covid-19 and subsequent individual and collective protection measures for the gradual resumption of face- to-face activities, entailed new challenges for workers whose routine of life, linked to the work

context, imposed a new look. about the meanings of his work, and his ability to regulate emotions in the face of the context, reflecting on how satisfied he is with his occupation. In this way, the research problem “What are the meanings attributed to work by street food vendors in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, and how are these expressed in the experiences of job

satisfaction?”. The research aimed to identify and analyze, in the pandemic context of Parnaíba- PI, the meanings attributed to work and its interlocution with satisfaction, on the part of

informal workers in the food sector. The study included 10 workers who work in the sale of street food in Parnaíba-PI aged between 19 and 57 years, with an average age of 32.5 years, five men and five women. The participants were contacted virtually using the Snowball technique, having access to the Free and Informed Consent Form - TCLE. After explaining the research and the TCLE, a semi-structured interview was carried out, accompanied by a sociodemographic questionnaire, in addition to the Free Word Association Technique (TALP), making clear the confidential nature of the information, and the possibility of withdrawing at any time. The interview took place remotely (GoogleMeet). Data analysis was carried out using the Content Analysis proposed by Bardin (2011), giving rise to three central axes that summarize the responses obtained with the semi-structured interview, namely: 1) Reasons for being in the activity; 2) Aspects related to the meaning and understanding of work; and 3) General conceptions about work and working. The first axis represents the contents that express the option of selling street food as a viable possibility, including as a result of the need for income; the second axis refers to satisfaction and the meanings of work, as well as their experiences during the pandemic and the understanding of the activity for permanence in a period of readjustments; and the third axis, finally, describes the new job possibilities in the pandemic period which, although it seems contradictory to the previous axis, speaks of the growth in demand from a new opportunity in the food trade – delivery. The research also demonstrated the vulnerability of the informal worker and the lack of social attention towards the investigated class that, even with so many needs, has found more and more space to make its service indispensable in the routine of parnaibanos.