President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Saturday (Aug 29) that Congress will approve next week the proposed constitutional amendment (PEC) that ends the 6x1 work schedule, under which Brazilian workers can be rostered six days on with only one day off. He spoke at the campaign event Mulheres com Lula (Women with Lula) in Belo Horizonte.
Lula framed the change as time won back for family life:
"We will approve this week the end of the 6x1 scale so that women and men have more time to take care of their own lives, more time to care for their children, more time for leisure and more time to date as well," Lula said, according to Brasil de Fato.
According to the newspaper Correio Braziliense, the president called the bill "sacred" for his government. In the same speech he said that no foreign government will "meter o bedelho" (meddle) in the country and pledged to spend every minute of a possible fourth term leaving young Brazilians "better informed and better paid".
The bill, PEC 221/2019, is before the Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ). The rapporteur, Senator Omar Aziz (PSD-AM), filed a vote in favor on Thursday (Aug 27) and rejected the 12 amendments offered by senators. That keeps the text approved by the Chamber of Deputies on May 27, whose first signatory is Congressman Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG). According to Correio Braziliense, the committee is set to review the bill on Wednesday (Sept 2), and the government expects the committee and the full floor to vote on the same day.
What the bill changes
The amendment cuts the legal maximum workweek from 44 to 40 hours, a cap set by the 1988 Constitution, and guarantees two paid rest days per week with no salary cut. Implementation is gradual: two months after promulgation the limit drops to 42 hours, and after 12 months it reaches 40 hours. The text preserves collective bargaining agreements, including special regimes such as the 12x36 schedule (12 hours on, 36 hours off), and allows exceptions for workers with higher salaries and university degrees. The Senate's news agency notes that Chile, Colombia and Mexico have already cut or approved cuts to their workweeks in recent years.
Saturday's event targeted women voters, who make up 52.84% of the national electorate, about 83.9 million voters, according to the Superior Electoral Court. First lady Janja, Senate candidates Marília Campos (PT) and Áurea Carolina (PSOL), Minas Gerais gubernatorial candidate Patrus Ananias (PT) and the government's Senate leader Teresa Leitão (PT-PE) attended. It was Lula's second trip to Minas Gerais since the campaign began. In a Real Time Big Data poll released on Thursday, Lula had 46% of second-round vote intentions in the state against 44% for Flávio Bolsonaro (PL); with a two-point margin of error, the two are statistically tied.
The next step is the CCJ vote, scheduled for Wednesday (Sept 2). On the floor, the bill needs 49 votes, three fifths of the Senate, in two rounds. The measure was declared a priority at a Wednesday (Aug 26) meeting between Lula, Senate President Davi Alcolumbre and Chamber President Hugo Motta. Once approved, the amendment is promulgated in a solemn session of the National Congress.