The reality of subaltern cleaning work at a shopping mall

Abstract

This article discusses the job reality and living conditions of subaltern cleaning workers at a shopping mall in São Paulo State, Brazil. Two dimensions are considered in this analysis: one objective (living conditions, work conditions, work organization and work relations) and another subjective (experience of medial work and humiliation). The analysis of these factors is based on the voices of two female workers, with whom the “long conversation” technique was used in the context of a qualitative research. Their narratives disclose a distance between work conditions and the experience of a dignified life, as this outsourced work demands a lot of time, dedication, physical and emotional effort, receiving low pay within a call system interspersed with social humiliation.