Brazil experienced a 12% increase in labor productivity between 2012 and 2024. However, these gains are not being passed on to workers. The average cost per hour worked in the country is considered low, totaling US$6,31 in 2022. In Chile, for example, which already practices a 40-hour work week, this value is US$13,35.
The data presents a favorable scenario and can cover the costs of reducing the working hours from 44 to 40 hours per week and ending the 6x1 schedule (6 days of work and one day of rest) — under discussion in the National Congress. This is what the participants of the seminar “Reduction of Working Hours and End of the 6x1 Schedule”, held at the Institute of Economics (IE) of Unicamp last Friday (15), defended.
The event brought together researchers, members of the federal government, the legislature, labor unions, and social movements, who reinforced the urgency of approving changes to labor law.
According to Professor José Dari Krein, from the Center for Trade Union and Labor Economics Studies (Cesit) at IE, the objective was to present arguments from different perspectives — economic, health, social, historical, legal, and others — and to promote intersectoral dialogue. “There are a number of issues that the more conservative sectors are raising in the debate that could create problems for this cause to effectively advance, so it is necessary to be vigilant about the debate,” Krein pointed out.
The discussions were based on “Dossier on Reducing Working Hours and Ending the 6x1 Shift ScheduleThe study, comprised of 36 articles produced by 56 researchers, reveals that beyond economic issues, over 90% of workers on the 6x1 schedule report damage to their physical and mental health. Women, Black and mixed-race individuals, and those earning up to two minimum wages make up the majority of workers on the 6x1 schedule, highlighting social inequalities in the availability of free time outside of work.
This also impacts their ability to qualify: 40% of young people between 14 and 29 years old said they dropped out of school because of work. Furthermore, 40% of workers in this age group have only completed high school.
According to Krein, research indicates that labor reforms would improve health, education, equality, and democracy indicators, and would have a civilizing character. Listen to the audio.
Low productivity requires technological investment.
According to the executive secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Employment, Francisco Macena, the blame for low company productivity cannot be placed on workers' working hours, but rather on the low level of digitalization in businesses. "If we discuss, through public policies, how to increase productivity by making this technological transformation, we can reduce the work week to 36 hours with productivity gains. This applies to all sectors of the economy," he said.
Macena also emphasized that the costs arising from the changes are absorbed by productivity, and that companies no longer account for other relevant costs. In the case of civil construction, for example, "the cost of the licensing bureaucracy to be able to carry out a project now represents 15,3% of the cost of the project."
He commented on which economic sectors would be most affected by the potential change:
The argument that small and medium-sized enterprises will be the most affected, since they have a large part of their workforce on a 6x1 schedule, does not reflect market reality, said the secretary. "We have 941 registered companies (CNPJs) that operate on a 6x1 schedule; and 1,9 million registered companies (CNPJs) that are already on a 5x2 schedule," he exemplified.
The government's expectation, corroborated by the seminar participants, is for the approval of the 40-hour work week, with at least two paid days off per week (5x2 schedule), without a transition period and without salary reduction.
However, Macena admitted the possibility of a longer timeframe for implementing the reduction in working hours, as advocated by some members of the National Congress. "If the Senate takes too long to vote, and we have a transition period of 30, 60, or 90 days, the change could happen next year, but we want it this year."
However, the phased approach would diminish the positive impact of the changes, argued Cássio Calvete, professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and coordinator of the website Democracy and the World of Work in Debate.
Change can create new jobs.
Marilane Teixeira, professor and researcher at Cesit/IE, explained that the process of companies adapting to the new work schedule can lead to the reorganization of work processes and an increase in hiring, especially in sectors such as commerce and services:
Teixeira also mentioned the high cost of hiring and firing processes, considering the high turnover in the current labor market. “We have to analyze whether it's worthwhile to maintain the social cost of this [6x1] schedule—which causes illness, high turnover, and work overload—compared to a reduction in working hours that will create more quality of life, decrease turnover, illnesses, and absences from work.”
The researcher also highlighted the positive effects for workers without formal employment contracts. In this case, the 40-hour work week will serve as a reference for informal work agreements, in addition to helping include a portion of this population in new formal jobs.
"Pejotização" threatens rights
The coordinator of the Forum of Trade Union Federations, Clemente Ganz Lúcio, said there is an expectation that Congress will vote on the matter by June. He also reinforced the importance of popular pressure to realize this demand. But he warned of the risk of the opposition trying to undermine the achievements through amendments.
Lúcio drew attention to the ongoing discussion in the Supreme Federal Court (STF), through the Topic 1.389which assesses the legality of hiring self-employed workers or legal entities (PJ) to provide services, the so-called "pejotização" (a term referring to the practice of hiring individuals as independent contractors rather than employees).
“There are thousands of workers who, today, work as subordinates to a company as independent contractors (PJ). If people become independent contractors, the right to a 40-hour work week dies, because a company doesn't have vacations, doesn't have a salary, doesn't have maternity leave… Everything that the CLT [Consolidation of Labor Laws] defines as a worker's right goes to the ground.” The coordinator argued that the debate should be taken to the Legislative Branch to reverse the ongoing “outsourcing” of workers.
Popular mobilization has placed the demand on the public agenda.
The social movement Vida Além do Trabalho (VAT) is considered one of the main forces responsible for popularizing the demand to end the 6x1 work schedule, which was elevated to the public agenda through worker mobilization. “We don't just need rest, we need time to live. The 6x1 schedule greatly limits life,” highlighted Lucas de Oliveira, the state coordinator of VAT in Rio de Janeiro. According to him, the fear of losing their jobs keeps many workers away from the struggle.
In the audio, Oliveira talks about the origin of the movement and emphasizes that the VAT expresses a desire of the working class.
Psychologist and public health specialist Oliveira coordinates the Life Beyond Work Therapeutic Groups and stated that, through the participants' accounts, he observes the effects of mental and physical exhaustion generated by work. The space is open to all workers and has bi-weekly remote meetings. "We work on concepts such as work-related mental disorders, repetitive strain injury, and molecular bone diseases."
The seminar was organized by Ana Cláudia Moreira Cardoso, Cássio da Silva Calvete, José Dari Krein, and Sadi Dal Rosso, with participation from the website Democracy and the World of Work in Debate, the Brazilian Association of Labor Studies (Abet), Cesit, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (FCE/UFRGS), the Northeast Nucleus for the establishment of the Network for Studies and Monitoring of Labor Reform (Remir), the Group for Studies and Research on Labor of the University of Brasília (GEPT/UnB), FES, and the São Paulo School of Sociology and Politics Foundation.
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