The presidential candidate and current senator Flávio Bolsonaro communicated this Tuesday that he supports the constitutional amendment proposal to reduce the workday, whose first vote is scheduled for this Wednesday in the Senate of Brazil. Until now, he had advocated leaving the direct negotiation of contract conditions in the hands of workers and employers.
Bolsonaro explained that, after traveling across the country, he has verified that "the majority of Brazilian workers want the end of the 6x1, as the initiative presented by the left is known in Brazil, which establishes a maximum of 40 hours per week and provides for two days of rest without it resulting in a reduction in salary."
"So I am going to vote in favor of ending the 6x1, as we always defend something even better," said the winner of the first round of these elections, admitting that "workers have the right to longer breaks."
The senator defended that his initial position in favor of free negotiation between employer and employee aimed to guarantee the "freedom" of the worker to organize their own schedule. At the same time, he criticized that the amendment does not address specific situations such as teleworking or child-rearing, although he recalled that Brazilian legislation does cover those cases.
"What happens to people who work from home? That is not defined in the amendment proposal. What happens to mothers who have no one to leave their children with, who can only work, for example, four hours a day, only in the morning or only in the afternoon? Their work schedule will remain rigid," he raised.
Flávio made these statements after meeting with his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who remains under house arrest for health reasons while serving a sentence of more than 27 years in prison for leading a coup plot aimed at reversing his defeat in the presidential elections of October 2022.
This is the first occasion that Flávio has visited him since the 90 days of suspension imposed by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes ended, after the senator violated the precautionary measures by disseminating a letter from the former president in support of his candidacy.
The 6x1 model and the battle for the workday
The issue of reducing the workday has become one of the axes of the campaign for the second round on October 25, coinciding with the imminent vote in the Senate. The text was already endorsed in May by the Chamber of Deputies, with 472 votes in favor and 22 against.
Last week, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva publicly challenged Bolsonaro to clarify the meaning of his vote and that of his party, the Liberal Party. "The time has come to know who is who in this country," stated the Brazilian leader, determined to expose the reservations of the conservative opposition, which has tried to delay deadlines and propose changes to the project.
If the Senate gives the green light to the proposal without altering substantive points, the text will be promulgated by Congress and will come into effect. In case of introducing structural modifications, it must return to the Chamber of Deputies for a new examination.