A Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday (27), in the first round, the PEC (proposed Amendment to the Constitution) on the end of the 6×1 scale. The proposal was approved by 472 votes to 22.
Once this phase is complete, the House still needs to vote on the PEC in a second round. If approved, the text will go to the Senate for analysis.
Approval in the plenary in the first round took place on the same day that the report by deputy Leo Prates (Republicanos-BA) was published.
The text defines a 14-month transition to reduce working hours from 44 to 40 hours per week in two stages with a reduction of two hours each, without reducing wages. The first will be done 60 days after the text is promulgated. The second will be done 12 months later, totaling 14 months after the promulgation of the new amendment.
In practice, the proposal aims to guarantee the end of the 6×1 scale – of six days of work and one day off – with the determination of two days of rest, which will also come into effect 60 days after the promulgation of the text. According to the article, the day of rest should be “preferably on Sundays”.
Government deputies went to the Chamber plenary with t-shirts and stickers defending the end of 6×1. Minister Guilherme Boulos (General Secretariat) followed the vote in plenary. The government had called for demonstrations.
Government deputies went to the plenary with t-shirts, posters and stickers calling for an end to the 6×1. The congressmen of Novo and do Missão took a stand against the PEC. They reinforced the businesspeople’s arguments that the reduction will have economic impacts for businesspeople and that the ideal would be for collective agreements to define work schedules.
Processing in the Senate
The expectation of the government and Hugo Motta is that the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), will speed up the voting process on the text as soon as the Chamber sends the proposal to the senators, resulting in the PEC being approved within 30 days. The idea is to have the project enacted before the parliamentary recess, scheduled to begin on July 18th.
The discussion in the Senate will take place two months after the increase in tension involving the government and the Upper House with the disapproval of the nomination of the Union’s attorney general, Jorge Messias, to the STF (Supreme Federal Court). This was the first time that the Legislature rejected a nomination to the Supreme Court in more than 130 years.
The government has already started to appeal to Alcolumbre for the vote to be carried out quickly. Minister Luiz Marinho (Labor) denied that there is a rift between the Planalto and the Senate and said that Lula and Alcolumbre are like “friends who have not spoken to each other for months and who warmly resume contact”.
“The Senate will also have the wisdom to listen to the cry of Brazilian society. Let’s talk to Davi and I’m sure that sensitivity will convince the senator,” he said.
Representatives of the Brazilian business community had a meeting this Tuesday (26) with Alcolumbre to ask for more time to analyze the 6×1 PEC. The businesspeople were against the advancement of the proposal in Congress and said that the discussion cannot take place during an electoral period.
