The possibility of reducing the working day from 44 hours to 36 hours a week, which took over debates on social media over the weekend, also gained repercussions within the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The Minister of Entrepreneurship, Microenterprise and Small Businesses, Márcio França, said, in an interview with CNN Brasil, that the proposal will make “people feel more useful”.
When asked about his view on the end of the 6×1 journey, the minister said that in places that already adopt reduced working hours, such as New York and New Zealand, he noted that people have more time for leisure and to “live well”. “I think it is inexorable, or inevitable, that over time we will have to reduce working hours to make more people feel useful and so that people can, at times when there is no longer work, be able to do other things”, said minister Márcio França during the interview.
França also said it was a “mistake” to say that the initiative to reduce working hours could be “something against businesspeople”. “This can be financed by the government”, suggested the minister without, however, explaining how this can be done.
The minister was still “hopeful” about the debate. “I’m very hopeful that we can take advantage of this 6×1, 5×2 discussion, to show that our objective is not to disrupt anyone’s life, on the contrary, we want everyone to undertake”, said França.
Proposal on reducing working hours has not yet been officially presented
The possibility of reducing working hours began to be considered after a mobilization on social media that took place over the weekend. The debate is based on a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) by congresswoman Erika Hilton (Psol-RJ) that has not yet been presented.
The PEC proposes the extinction of the 6×1 working day, in which employees work for six days a week, taking one day off, for the 4×3 working day, with four days worked and three days off.
For the deputy, the current 6×1 working day takes away workers’ right to “spend time with their family, to take care of themselves, to have fun”. Furthermore, Erika Hilton stated on her social networks that “the 6×1 scale is a prison” and “it is inhumane”.
Despite the repercussion on social media, the proposal has not yet reached the number of 171 signatures that are necessary for the PEC to actually be debated in Congress. By early afternoon on Monday (11), the proposal had been signed by 79 deputies.
