Senator Omar Aziz (PSD-AM) delivered his report on the constitutional amendment that would end Brazil's 6x1 work schedule to the Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) on Thursday (27). The rapporteur kept the text approved by the Chamber of Deputies in May and rejected all 12 amendments filed by fellow senators, according to G1. The proposal is now ready for a committee vote next Wednesday (2), Folha de S.Paulo reports.
The 6x1 schedule, in which employees work six days and rest one, is common in Brazil's retail and service sectors. Under the text Aziz upheld, the standard workweek drops from 44 to 40 hours, with a daily limit of 8 hours. The amendment guarantees two days of weekly rest with no pay cut, one of them preferably on Sunday. The rapporteur also kept the transition timeline unchanged: two months after promulgation, the workweek falls to 42 hours with two rest days; within one year, it reaches 40 hours.
Among the rejected amendments were three proposals by Senator Izalci Lucas (PL-DF) to keep the 44-hour week, according to G1. Aziz also turned down amendments by Hermer Klann (PL-SC) and Oriovisto Guimarães (PSDB-PR) seeking a transition period of up to four years. The PL, the party of senator and presidential pre-candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, opposes ending the 6x1 schedule.
In his report, Aziz cited data from the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea) showing that the 6x1 schedule weighs most heavily on lower-income and less-educated workers. He also noted that the 44-hour week has been in force for 30 years.
"The prolonged workday is not a neutrally distributed phenomenon in the productive structure: it falls disproportionately on lower-income and less-educated workers. Reducing it is, to that exact extent, a measure of distributive justice, and not just labor policy," Aziz wrote.
The breakthrough came after President Lula met the speakers of the Chamber, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), and the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP), on Wednesday night (26), according to Folha. The government is racing to approve the end of the 6x1 schedule before the October election, aiming to feature the issue in Lula's reelection campaign. Congress has only one more working week, from August 31 to September 4, before the vote.
The timeline is tight. A constitutional amendment must clear the CCJ and then two rounds of voting on the Senate floor, with five business days between rounds. Lula's allies are pushing for both rounds to be held on the same day and argue that procedural deadlines can be waived, according to G1. Alcolumbre, however, did not commit to bringing the proposal to the floor next week. If Aziz's text passes unchanged, the amendment does not return to the Chamber and can be promulgated directly by Congress.