Government is unable to implement a PEC that reduces working hours

The Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber of Deputies postponed this Tuesday (28) the vote on PEC 221/19, which reduces the weekly working hours of Brazilian workers from 44 to 36 hours. The text was authored by deputy Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG).

According to the proposal, changes to working hours would only come into force 10 years after the date of enactment. Currently, the Constitution provides that normal working hours must be a maximum of eight hours a day and 44 hours a week. Collective agreements or conventions may establish compensation for working hours or a reduction in working hours.

When presenting the PEC’s opinion as rapporteur, deputy Tarcísio Motta (Psol-RJ), argued that Brazil needs to “face” this debate and said that “reducing maximum working hours creates jobs”.

“Countries that adopted shorter working hours regimes and rules did not experience a loss of productivity, on the contrary. This means an improvement in the quality of life for workers who, from this point of view, would even have more time to consume in their leisure time, in your rest time”, said Motta.

The issue has divided the government base and has been heavily criticized by opposition parliamentarians for ending up harming businesspeople. Recently, the Minister of Labor, Luiz Marinho defended the reduction of work to four days a week.

In an attempt to postpone the discussion of the PEC, the deputies approved a request from Gilson Marques (Novo-SC) to withdraw from the agenda. The request was approved by 30 votes to 25. Only the PT/PCdoB/PV and Psol-Rede federations and the government opposed the withdrawal.

When voting in favor of withdrawing from the agenda, deputy Kim Kataguiri (União-SP) said that the measure could cause a “side effect”, such as increased costs for the employer and informality. “To reduce the working hours, productivity needs to be increased. And what happened in Brazil, in recent years, was the opposite. Our labor has become more expensive, the businessman pays a lot and the employee receives little”, said Kataguiri.

If the PEC is approved by the CCJ, the proposal will still have to go through a special commission, before reaching the plenary. The text may also undergo modifications until the final vote.