Protesters carried out demonstrations this Friday (15) in several cities to end the six-day work schedule and one day off. Events were called in São Paulo, Brasília, Manaus, Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro and Recife.
The theme gained repercussion this week due to the proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution (PEC), authored by federal deputy Erika Hilton (PSol-SP), which proposes a working day of a maximum of 36 hours per week and four working days per week in Brazil .
The acts were called by the Life Beyond Work Movement (VAT), which has mobilized social networks in favor of the PEC. In online petitionthe movement has already gathered almost 3 million signatures in favor of the change.
The constitutional amendment proposal was drawn up in the cause defended by VAT, that the 6×1 working day in Brazil is one of the main causes of physical and mental exhaustion of workers, in addition to preventing workers from interacting with family and friends and the practice physical activities, leisure or study.
São Paulo
In São Paulo, protesters gathered on Avenida Paulista.
From a sound car, one of the leaders of the event, Priscila Araújo Kashimira, highlighted that young people are among those most affected by the 6×1 working day, due to the difficulty in balancing studies and trying to enter a higher education institution. She also said that her interaction with her mother, who was also in the sound car, was greatly affected due to this work schedule.
Priscila Kashimira also pointed out that other workers affected by the current journey are shopping mall and telemarketing employees. She criticized telemarketing companies for subjecting employees to short breaks, “of less than 20 minutes for lunch.”
“If the pharmacy, market and shopping center closes, this country will stop,” he said.
One of the VAT members, Washington Soares, highlighted that the mobilization for the online petition began a year ago, including leafleting.
For him, the pluralization of favorable demonstrations and support, such as from parties and parliamentarians, is due to the fact that it is an agenda that is independent of party positions and ideologies. “It’s an agenda for everyone,” he said.
“A lot of people didn’t even believe it and, this week, after Saturday, it started. Everyone getting in touch with the deputies. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or left, everyone works. No politician wants to get burned by the population, they know What are they going to have to do? They want to make an adjustment and so on, ok, it’s going to be very difficult at the CCJ. [Comissão de Constituição e Justiça e de Cidadania, da Câmara dos Deputados]. That was our first victory. It won’t be easy, but it never has been. Here in Brazil, it never was. We really have to build on our achievements and we are very confident”, he said.
“A right-wing deputy said that it is not an ideological issue, that it is a worker’s issue, and that is exactly what we think,” he added.
A telemarketing operator for five years, Viviane da Silva, 38, started her degree this year and, therefore, divides her day between studying in the morning and working in the afternoon. She has had other jobs and in one of them she worked a 6 to 1 scale.
“Months ago, I started taking medication for depression and anxiety, because the work load with studying was heavy and I didn’t have the necessary time off to rest and perform both functions”, he reported.
On one occasion, the worker said, a boss caught her attention because she had scheduled medical and dental appointments during work hours, twice in the same month.
“We are not treated well when we have to leave early and come in later. By law, they have to accept a declaration of attendance at a medical appointment, but superiors don’t accept it well.”
Rio de Janeiro
The protest took a crowd to Cinelândia, in Rio de Janeiro. The protesters highlighted the need for rest and leisure in workers’ lives and called for a reduction in hours worked without losing wages.
Trade union centers and other social movements have already demonstrated in favor of reducing working hours, while employers and business entities took a stand against.
Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 11/15/2024 – Protesters gather to protest the end of the 6×1 working day, at Cinelândia. Photo: Tânia Rêgo/Agência Brasil
The topic was also debated at the G20 Social, which takes place in Rio de Janeiro between November 14th and 16th.
The Minister of Women, Cida Gonçalves, argued that the change would benefit women, but said that the debate needs to be more mature.
Minister Márcio Macêdo, from the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, said this week that the subject has not yet been discussed at the core of the government.
Brasilia
In the federal capital, the event brought together representatives from different categories and social movements at the Plano Piloto Bus Station, in the central region.
For Abel Santos, motorbike freight operator and VAT coordinator in the Federal District, the acts showed the unity of workers “regardless of category in the fight for better working and living conditions”. The demonstrations taking place in the country increase the pressure for parliamentarians to approve the proposal to end the current work schedule.
In the assessment of the anthropologist and member of the Movimento Passe Livre, Paiques Duque Santarém, the movements need to articulate themselves from now on to maintain mobilization around the agenda, with the aim of avoiding institutional cooling, and a strategy of arguments to stop the narratives contrary to the proposal.
“The time until it will be put to a vote in the CCJ, for the rapporteur to present the opinion. This time for it to be put on the agenda, for a vote in the Chamber, for a vote in the Senate. This is a very long process, which contributes to cooling the debate,” he said.
Brasília (DF), 15/11/2024 – Act in defense of the end of the 6×1 journey, at the Plano Piloto Bus Station. Photo: Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil
171 signatures are needed for the PEC to begin processing in the Chamber. And to be approved, it needs the vote of 308 of the 513 parliamentarians, in two rounds of voting.
With social pressure, in the space of a week, the total number of deputies who signed the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) grew from 60 to 134, which establishes a working day of a maximum of 36 hours per week and 4 days of work. work per week in Brazil, ending the 6 to 1 escalation.
At least two other PECs deal with reducing working hours in the National Congress, but do not end the 6 for 1 working day, which is the main demand of VAT.
* Collaborated with newsrooms in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília
