After a week of government defeats () in , left-wing movements are betting on the call for an end to the pressure on the Legislature in the acts of May 1st, celebrated this Friday.
For the second year in a row, the president must not participate in union events on that date. In 2024, Lula criticized , in the east zone of São Paulo. To avoid exposing the PT member, a pre-candidate for re-election, to further deterioration of his image if he was emptied again, the option was to preserve him.
The fear of low participation in the events also meant that the demonstrations will not be centralized in 2026, as has been happening since 2018. Rio de Janeiro will be the exception, with a large event scheduled to start at 2pm on Copacabana beach, in the south of the city.
In São Paulo, the fronts will bring together some of the politicians closest to Lula to send a message to Congress, whose tense relationship with the government was worsened by the STF (Supreme Federal Court), on Wednesday (29), and on Thursday (30).
Therefore, the left’s main focus will be on defending the end of the 6×1 scale, which had already been one of the keynotes of May 1st last year and is, according to Datafolha.
Two weeks ago, the Lula government proposed reducing working hours to 40 hours a week without reducing wages. The project itself is more flexible than the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution), authored by the deputy (-SP), and is processed more quickly in Congress.
The government wants to approve the text before this year, something that has placed deputies and senators in a delicate situation – rejecting the proposal, in the politicians’ view, could cost many of them re-election. Therefore, several wanted to prevent the project from being voted on in an election year.
The irritation of government members with Congress after last week’s series of defeats, especially the veto of Messias’ nomination, meant that they committed themselves to approving the end of the 6×1 scale as soon as possible.
“The working class is breathing down the deputies’ necks for the law to pass,” said Moisés Selerges, president of the ABC Metalworkers’ Union and pre-candidate for federal deputy for PT-SP.
The ABC Metalworkers Union, in São Bernardo do Campo, President Lula’s political birthplace, will organize one of the main events this Friday, scheduled to start at 9am. The mobilization will be in the city center and will feature speeches and musical performances – the main one will be by Glória Groove, who had the hit “Vermelho” in 2022 and had the song adopted by PT activists during Lula’s election to the Presidency.
From 4 pm onwards, the ABC event should be attended by ministers Luiz Marinho (Labor) and (General Secretariat of the Presidency), as well as the president of the PT, Edinho Silva, and the former Minister of Finance, pre-candidate for the São Paulo government.
Haddad will join the pre-candidates in SP, (Rede) and (PSB), at the event promoted by Força Sindical at 8 am, at the movement’s headquarters, in the Liberdade neighborhood. The trio is seen in the PT as a possible platform for the left in the state, which also has Márcio França (PSB) seeking a candidacy for senator.
At 9 am, at Praça Roosevelt, in the center of São Paulo, the VAT (Life Beyond Work) movement will gather protesters in defense of reducing working hours. Erika Hilton and Rio de Janeiro councilor Rick Azevedo (PSOL), as well as Marina Silva herself, should participate.
President of Força Sindical, Miguel Torres said that the date is important to remember the workers’ achievements and press for new ones, such as the end of the 6×1 scale, which he classified as “a general outcry from the Brazilian working class”.
He also defended the decentralization of acts, adding that they value categories in defending their own agendas. “I believe that the number of participants across the country will be very expressive, representative and very class conscious,” he said, denying that the objective of fragmenting the demonstrations was for fear that they would be emptied.
In an unusual way for May Day, a movement that has historically been capitalized on by the left, right-wing groups will meet on Avenida Paulista, in the central region of São Paulo, from 11 am.
The Paulista event will be promoted by Patriotas do QG, Marcha da Liberdade and Voz da Nação, movements that are part of Projeto União Brasil, an organization with no connection to the party of the same name and which brings together conservative groups. The trio booked the 1st of May at Paulista in advance, a criterion used by the Military Police, and not by the left.
On social media, the movements claim that the act will serve to support (-RJ’s) pre-candidacy, call for the freedom of the former president (PL), who is under house arrest after being convicted of an attempted coup d’état, and take a stand against the end of the 6×1 scale.
Senator Marcos Do Val (Podemos-ES) confirmed his presence at the event. On Instagram, Patriotas do HQ released a video made with the help of AI (Artificial Intelligence), in which it simulates an invitation made by former deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP), imprisoned in Italy.
“Patriot friends, despite being in prison, I invite all Brazilians: on May 1st, we will all take to the streets to demonstrate. Flávio is president, Bolsonaro is free and Supremo is the people. Together we are stronger”, says the computerized version of Zambelli.
Acts of the left
São Paulo (SP)
- 8am: Metalworkers Union of SP and Mogi and Força Sindical – Palácio do Trabalhador, in Liberdade
- 9am: CSP Conlutas – Praça da República, in the center
- 9am: VAT Movement – Praça Roosevelt, in the center
São Bernardo do Campo (SP)
- 9am: ABC Metalworkers Union – Municipal Palace, in the center
Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
- 2pm: Posto 5, Copacabana beach
Even the one promoted by the right
São Paulo (SP)
- 11am: Patriots do HQ – Avenida Paulista, in front of Fiesp
