Brazilian Congress Considers Changing the Workweek
to ban the current six on one off schedule
HAVANA TIMES – The news about what is being cooked up in the upper echelons of the country surprised me in the early hours of Wednesday, as I was getting ready to go to work.
The familiar schedule of six days worked for one day off—so uncomfortable for millions of Brazilian workers and/or immigrants, among whom I count myself—may be coming to an end.
It is said that the government is actively advocating for its elimination.
By the time I learned of it, the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee was still debating several bills, considering schedules of 4×3, 6×1 with a reduction in weekly working hours, and the one that ultimately remained as the proposal: 5×2.
This proposal would not only ban the six-days-worked, one-day-off schedule—considered exhausting and harmful to the population’s emotional and physical health—but would also establish a maximum 36-hour workweek, distributed over five days, and include paid rest without loss of salary.
To become law, the bill will have to be voted on and approved in the Senate plenary and then in the Chamber of Deputies, in what is expected to be a lengthy legislative process.
Obviously, the measure enjoys broad popular support, although if approved it would be implemented gradually, moving from 44 to 40 hours per week, and then eliminating one hour annually until reaching 36 hours.
Beyond the relief it would bring to our lives, the news is generating debate.
Some believe it would lead to greater productivity, based on experience in other countries; it would reduce unemployment by forcing the hiring of more people; and it would give a boost to the economy through increased leisure time, which would generate higher levels of consumption.
Others, however, fear a drop in gross domestic product due to higher costs for employers and, as a result, an increase in informality and layoffs, particularly among small businesses.
Nothing is certain or imminent, but for me the mere news already feels like a breath of hope, especially because time keeps passing and I know I will not always be young.
Living in a country where the quality of life includes not only access to food, healthcare, education, and housing, but also meaningful time for leisure and rest, becomes, with the passing of the years, an ever-greater priority.