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Firjan gives a reality check: “Cascade effect is coming”
Aside from electoral and demagogic motivations, the reality check came from the labor legal manager of Firjan (Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro), Maria Rita Catonio Barbosa, who believes the initiative, which eliminates the 6 x 1 work schedule, about to be ratified by the federal Senate, will trigger a ‘cascade effect’ of price increases in the economy.
What the federal legislators, eager for the spotlight, failed to notice is that, in the absence of a corresponding salary reduction (accompanying a shorter workday), employers will have no alternative but to pass on this additional cost.
Cost of working hour will increase
In contrast to the proposal’s appealing ‘character’, Maria Rita points out that “automatically this will raise the cost of the working hour,” adding that its economic consequences will be broad because “someone will pay the bill and it won’t be just the companies.”
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Measure should not spare any economic segment
The reasoning of Firjan’s legal manager is clear: if companies have to reduce working hours, they will have to hire more employees to maintain productivity, increasing their operational expenses. This additional cost would be passed on, at least partially, to the consumer.
“The metallurgical industry that manufactures steel sheets will have an increased cost, will sell the sheet more expensively, and automatically the refrigerator factory will have this cost also passed on to the stores,” she reinforced. The same logic would apply to smaller establishments, like bakeries, whose prices would also be affected.
Unimpressive productivity, the ‘Achilles’ heel’
The crucial point of the controversy is one of the pillars of the economy, productivity. As an example, Maria Rita cites a small European country Luxembourg, but internationally known as the most productive on the planet, which has an average of 35.6 weekly hours and a legal limit of 40 hours. Its productivity is five times greater than Brazil’s.
Similarly small in geographical size, Ireland is six times more productive than Pindorama. For the Firjan executive, however, the comparison would not apply, since the economies of the mentioned countries have better infrastructure, less informality, and a higher degree of automation.
Turning attention to national indicators, Maria Rita notes that, from 2019 to 2024, Brazilian industrial productivity plummeted 9%, estimating that current production levels will only be maintained if there is a productivity gain of 8.5%. “The impact will be monstrous concerning this point,” she concluded.
Negotiation, the only possible solution
As on other occasions, the Firjan manager believes that the best solution for structural change in the labor field would be collective bargaining, always considering the ‘particularities’ of each sector, region, and professional category.
These particularities, she adds, are decisive for an understanding between capital and labor, as the country presents distinct and varied realities among its municipalities and states.
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