Brazil approves 40-hour workweek amendment as Lula courts workers
Brazil’s lower house backed a 40-hour week by 461-19, setting up a Senate fight over pay, staffing and a 37 million-worker shift.
Brazil’s lower house voted 461-19 to reduce the legal workweek to 40 hours from 44, sending a Lula-backed labor overhaul to the Senate with overwhelming support but an unfinished political path. The amendment would end the six-day schedule that still anchors much of Brazil’s labor law and require at least two days off each week without cutting wages.
The change could reach more than 37 million workers in Latin America’s largest economy, according to the federal government, and it gives President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a concrete issue to present to voters as he seeks a fourth non-consecutive term in October. Lula’s team opened the campaign on April 3 with the message that more time to live is a right, not a perk, then formally sent the bill to Congress on April 14 under constitutional urgency.
The transition was the main point of negotiation. Lawmaker Leo Prates, the rapporteur in the Chamber of Deputies, helped broker the final text after a meeting between Lula and Speaker Hugo Motta. Under the plan, hours would fall from 44 to 42 sixty days after enactment, then to 40 within 12 months, a timetable that replaced earlier talk of a much longer phase-in. Motta said the non-negotiable elements were a 40-hour week, the end of the 6x1 schedule and preserved wages.
The debate exposed the fault line between labor groups and business leaders. The Central Única dos Trabalhadores made ending the 6x1 schedule a central May Day demand, while the government argued the shorter week could improve work-life balance, family time, rest and even reduce absenteeism and turnover. Paulo Pimenta said workers trapped in Monday-through-Saturday routines are often among the most burdened and least paid. Kim Kataguiri warned that companies could be harmed if the reform moved too quickly.
Retail and other service sectors are likely to feel the greatest pressure, since six-day schedules are common and staffing costs could rise. The São Paulo State Federation of Industries and the National Confederation of Industry were preparing to press their objections in the Senate, where Davi Alcolumbre has not yet set a vote date. If the chamber keeps the text intact, Brazil would join a growing regional shift toward shorter hours, alongside Chile’s phased move to 40 hours by 2028 and Colombia’s gradual reduction.
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