The president of the PIT-CNTMarcelo Abdala, defended this Thursday the reduction of the working day in a discussion organized in the Annex of the Legislative Palace by the socialist senator José Nunes, together with the Minister of Labor, Pablo Mieres, the president of the Confederation of Business Chambers, Diego O ´Neill, the member of the Intersocial Feminista, Alma Espino, among other authorities.
“I am convinced that the reduction of working hours is an issue that transcends labor relations and the consequences that this debate can have are quite broad”Abdala said. The leader maintained that it would be “a project of a long-term strategic nature, which will serve to refound this advanced nature of legislation in our country.”
He admitted, however, that the debate “is complex”, since there are “different perspectives that are valid”. “Obviously everyone is going to defend their interests vigorously, but the important thing is to try to develop an overall vision that benefits the vast majority of society,” he pointed out.
The president of the PIT-CNT added: “The idea of reducing working time is not a subjective claim of the labor movement, but rather the objective functioning of the capitalist system itself. Because permanently, by way of greater productivity, there is pressure to reduce the necessary labor time invested in the production of a commodity”.
According to Abdala, “this has to do with the potential to improve the quality of life of the population.” “If the accelerated electronic transformation and the social productivity of work are not accompanied by a reduction in the duration of work time, what is exacerbated are the processes of regressive and anti-egalitarian distribution of the wealth produced”, he opined.
The trade unionist gave as an example what has happened in the manufacturing industry from 2006 to 2022: “During that time there was a 47% increase in production while the hours worked decreased by 29%. In other words, each hour of work has been twice as productive as it was in 2006”reported.
For Abdala, if in an 8-hour work day productivity increases and work time is not reduced, “This greater productivity will end up in business profitability, but not in an improvement in the quality of life of workers”.
The leader maintained that the objective with this reduction is that people can enjoy other things. “Here what we want is conquer life”he claimed.
This, in his opinion, has to do “with artistic creation, with sport, with a more equal participation in care because here there is also a question of gender equality, with enjoyment, with building a more balanced society, more from labor relations, with nature and with ourselves”.
“From our perspective, with all the complexities, this should be regulated through a law, after which it will be necessary to see how it is applied in the different branches of activity,” said the trade unionist.
