Besides the rest: the places of "slack" in work in bakeries (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Abstract

Starting from an ethnographic research on bakery work, held in Rio de Janeiro, I propose to analyze the places that the "gap" (the day in the week in which one does not work) occupy and the processes that engender in this daily life. More than just the physiological reproduction of the workforce, there are at stake: a) the mediation between work and other aspects of life; b) opportunities to change positions or consolidate one position, in the absence of another, or the danger of losing the place, either by absenting himself or by refusing to work during his time off; (c) the setting up of a "test" for new employees by the prolonged withdrawal of the first time they would be entitled to. By combining individual and collective dimensions, physiological reproduction, labor control, workers' strategies and perceptions about work and effort, the play proves to be a fundamental component in understanding the perceptions of these workers about their activity and how they are inserted in the world.