The wave of support for the end of the 6-day workweek in Brazil has gained momentum among some segments this week. The National Confederation of Workers in the Food and Allied Industries (CNTA, in Portuguese), the CUT’s (Single Worker’s Center of Brazil) Brazilian Democratic Confederation of Workers in the Food Industry (Contac/CUT, in Portuguese) and the International Union of Food Workers (IUF) launched a national campaign on Tuesday (11) called “End the 6-day workweek, with workload cut, without pay cut.”
According to CNTA’s vice president, Artur Bueno de Camargo Júnior, the segment’s focus will now be on face-to-face work with different worker categories to expand the public debate on the issue. He says that, in the organizations’ view, the proposals before the Chamber of Deputies need greater mobilization if they are to move forward.
“What unions will be doing from now on, through their federations, is putting pressure on the electorate of politicians in Congress. The confederations’ orientation now is for the federations to hold debates, either in legislative assemblies or in municipal chambers, in order not only to call the working class to debate the issue but also as a way of putting pressure on politicians. That’s the only way our voices will be heard. It has worked before regarding other issues, so we understand that this is the way we have to do things.”
At least three pieces of proposed legislation in Brazil focus on the end of the 6-day workweek. One of them, which has become better known in recent months, is the Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC, in Portuguese) 8/2025, presented by Congresswoman Erika Hilton (Socialism and Freedom Party), which provides for no more than eight working hours a day and a 4-day workweek, limited to 36 hours a week. The PEC provides for one year between its eventual approval and its entry into force, if parliamentarians approve it. The text results from the emergence of the Life Beyond Work (VAT, in Portuguese) movement, which has been mobilizing social networks since last year to end the 6-day workweek.
With similar content and proposed by federal deputy Reginaldo Lopes (Workers’ Party), the PEC 221/2019 is also being analyzed by the Chamber of Deputies, establishing “No more than eight working hours a day and a 36-hour workweek, with the possibility of compensating working hours and reducing working hours by collective bargaining agreements.” The text sets a 10-year deadline for the measure to come into force. Finally, the issue is also the subject of Bill 67/2025, by Congresswoman Daiana Santos (Communist Party of Brazil), which proposes a 40-hour workweek limit and “at least two days of paid rest per week.”
The parliamentarian says that the text was put together in partnership with shopkeepers, including workers such as salespeople, cashiers, clerks, and store drivers, among others. She proposes six months for the sector to adapt if the measure is approved. “By changing the Consolidated Labor Laws [known in Portuguese as CLT], we could guarantee that workers have two days off and that they can even be consecutive. Also, one of the days off must necessarily be a Sunday every month, so that we can guarantee a weekend off for workers. Not long ago, a supermarket chain in Porto Alegre [the capital of Rio Grande do Sul] was the target of a complaint about having a 10-day workweek. This shows how urgent it is for us to reduce workweeks,” argues Daiana Santos, who was at the launch of the CNTA campaign on Tuesday in Brasilia, Brazil’s capital.
The case she denounced was revealed by Brasil de Fato, which published a series of complaints from workers at the Zaffari supermarket chain in Rio Grande do Sul, regarding its grueling labor practices. After the repercussions, the agreement with the local union that allowed the 10-day workweek was suspended.
Composed mostly of forces linked to the business sector and the liberal right, Brazil’s Congress usually takes a conservative stance when it comes to advancing the labor agenda. In recent years, especially since 2016, federal deputies and senators have gone in the opposite direction and approved a series of measures that have taken away workers’ rights, including labor and social security reforms. Looking at this scenario, the CNTA vice president says that the organization recognizes the difficulties and is working on the campaign to end the 6-day workweek from a medium- to long-term perspective.
“It’s not going to be an easy battle to win and we’re sure it won’t happen overnight, but we have to start. The food sector, as important as it is for the country, is showing that we need to start, and we hope that other categories will also get involved in this debate,” says the leader, whose organization represents more than 1.3 million workers countrywide.
By now, PEC 221/2019 is before the Chamber of Deputies’ Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ, in Portuguese), where it waits for a rapporteur. PEC 8/2025 is awaiting clearance from the presidency to proceed to the collegiate body, while Bill 67/25 was initially distributed to the Labor Committee. None of the three measures is scheduled for vote.
