Seeking to improve his image and that of the Legislature on the eve of the election, the president of , (-PB), promised parliamentarians and mayors to install a special commission in the coming days to evaluate and debate zero fares on public transport.
The promise is part of a strategy that can cause wear and tear on politicians, such as administrative reform, and move forward with this, his second year in charge of the Chamber, such as zero tariffs and the end of the 6×1 work schedule.
By unlocking these debates, Motta also seeks to get closer to the president (PT), whose support is important, in Paraíba, to help elect his father to the Senate.
Free public transport in large cities is being analyzed by the Finance and Cities Ministries and should be Lula’s presidential decision. The government assesses that there is little chance of implementation during this PT mandate, given the billion-dollar cost of paying for the tariffs and the current deficit in the Union’s public accounts.
Even so, Motta promised, in a meeting with mayors and deputies, to create a special commission after Carnival to participate in this discussion.
One of the possibilities being studied is to replace the transport voucher with a contribution from companies to a fund that would cover free fares. Other forms of financing should also be discussed, such as the contribution of resources from the Union, states and municipalities, in addition to cross subsidies.
“Let’s look at the sources of financing. This is where the issue of transport vouchers and other sources towards zero tariffs comes into play”, says deputy Jilmar Tatto (PT-SP), appointed to coordinate the group.
6×1 scale
Seeking to print a more popular agenda for the Chamber in this second year, Motta has also announced that his priority will be the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) for Public Security, the bill that regulates the actions of drivers via app and the PEC that ends the 6×1 scale.
This last point was part of the legislative work, but it worried the business sector. The PEC presented by congresswoman Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) after an intense campaign on social media remained dormant for almost a year.
When Erika filed the PEC, in February last year, Motta disagreed and said it was a “failure of commitment to voters” to promise this type of project. “You can’t keep selling a dream knowing that this dream won’t come true,” he said, in a lecture organized by Banco Safra.
Now, when sending the proposal to the Constitution and Justice Committee, the president of the Chamber changed his speech. He emphatically defended the project and compared it to the creation of the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws) by .
“Many said the country would fail, but what was born was an era of prosperity and a fairer country,” said Motta, in a video posted on social media. “This proposal is not about working less, but about living better.”
The theme, with criticism from industry, commerce and the service sector about rising costs. The National Transport Confederation, for example, released a statement to defend that the journey should be reduced only through collective negotiation, without being imposed by law, and said that “in sectors where the 5×2 journey is feasible, it is already practiced”.
According to the entity, more than half of cargo and passenger transport companies say they have difficulty hiring workers. “Reducing working hours without having enough workers to meet demand increases the deficit, increases costs and can compromise the regularity of services provided to the population”, he stated.
Despite this concern, representatives of the private sector claim that Motta’s change in stance, of setting the topic for debate on the eve of the election, makes it difficult to block the approval of the proposal, and the decision will now be to negotiate to avoid “losing from WO”.
The option for a PEC, with a longer process and a larger quorum for approval, was intended to implement a bill on an urgent basis to deal with the issue more easily.
President Lula and the Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Guilherme Boulos, want to meet with Motta to discuss the rite and convince him to opt for the project, which requires fewer votes.
