New Delhi: Brazil has voted to give millions of workers more time away from work without losing pay. The country’s Senate approved a constitutional amendment on Wednesday, reducing the maximum working week from 44 hours to 40 hours and guaranteeing workers two days of paid rest each week.
The decision is a significant victory for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who made workers’ rights a central part of his political agenda. It also comes less than two weeks before the 25 October presidential run-off against Right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.
However, while trade unions have welcomed the move, business groups warn that employers could face higher costs, with possible consequences for prices and jobs.
“Those who work so hard to build Brazil also deserve to have time to live,” Lula said, celebrating the vote by highlighting what the change could mean for workers’ lives.
The amendment reduces the maximum working week from 44 hours to 40, while protecting salaries and guaranteeing two days of paid rest. It is intended to end the widely used six-days-at-work, one-day-off system, known in Brazil as the 6×1 schedule.
The change could benefit more than 37 million workers in the formal sector, according to government estimates. Under the new rules, businesses will have 14 months to adopt the shorter working week. It was approved by the Senate in two rounds of voting, with 75 senators voting in favour and one against in each round.
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A regional shift
The proposal also reflected a wider debate in Latin America over working hours. Chile has moved to a 40-hour working week, while Mexico is aiming for the same limit by 2030. Brazil’s decision places it within this regional shift toward shorter working hours.
Lula’s government has argued that shorter working hours can improve workers’ well-being without harming productivity. In January, Guilherme Boulos, head of the president’s General Secretariat, defended the proposal on similar grounds.
“When that worker is better rested, the result is that they will work better,” Boulos said, arguing that employees working six days a week may already be tired when they arrive at work.
Business groups have warned that reducing working hours without cutting wages could increase the cost of employing workers. Companies that need to maintain their current operating hours may have to hire additional staff or pay existing employees for overtime.
The National Confederation of Industry (CNI), which represents Brazil’s industrial sector, estimated in February that the change could increase annual employment costs by between 178.2 billion and 267.2 billion reais. It also warned that the burden could be particularly heavy for smaller businesses and the construction industry.
However, a study by Brazil’s Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), published in February, estimated that the change would increase operating costs by less than 1 per cent in major job-generating sectors such as industry and commerce. It also pointed to the possibility of productivity gains and a large labour market.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)