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Lula sent to Congress on Tuesday (14) a bill with constitutional urgency that proposes to extinguish the 6×1 schedule, reduce the working hours to 40 hours per week, and ensure two paid days off without salary reduction, a measure that affects approximately 14 million workers.
President Lula formalized on Tuesday (14) the submission to Congress of a bill that aims to end the 6×1 schedule in Brazil. The proposal amends labor legislation to lower the ceiling of the weekly working hours from the current 44 hours to 40 and to change the regime that imposes six consecutive shifts with only one day off to the 5×2 format, where a person works five days and rests two, with both being paid. The document arrived at the Chamber under a constitutional urgency regime, a mechanism that requires each legislative house to deliberate within 45 days.
Data released by the Planalto indicates that approximately 14 million people in the country currently work under the 6×1 schedule. Within this universe, 1.4 million, or 10% of the total, are domestic workers. Minister Luiz Marinho (Labor) stated that the bill aims to correct historical imbalances in the organization of working time, especially those generated by the prolonged application of the six-day model with a single day off.
What changes for those living under the 6×1 schedule
The most visible change is the mandatory switch from the 6×1 scheme to the 5×2. The two days off will now be paid, and the choice of which days of the week will be designated for rest will be determined by collective agreement, taking into account the characteristics of each sector.
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This margin for negotiation prevents the new rule from constraining sectors with atypical operations, such as commerce and continuous service industries.
The bill also includes an explicit salary safeguard: no one can have their payment reduced due to the new working hours. This means that the employer cannot use the reduction of hours as a justification to cut pay.
The regime of 12 hours of activity followed by 36 hours of rest remains valid when there is a collective agreement, provided that the average load does not exceed the 40 hours per week established in Lula’s proposal.
Which categories are affected by the end of the 6×1 schedule
The scope of the bill is extensive. The proposal is not limited to professionals governed by general labor legislation: domestic workers, commerce professionals, athletes, aircraft crew, and radio professionals are also included, as the text covers categories regulated by specific norms.
This change multiplies the number of people who will feel the effects of the end of the 6×1 shift in daily life.
The Civil House announced that the main intention is to ensure that workers have more hours for personal life, family interaction, leisure, and rest.
In the view of Lula’s government, providing adequate rest generates positive effects on the economy, in a perspective that links productivity gains to quality of life and social participation. Congress will now have to assess whether this argument holds up against the concerns raised by employers and economists.
Constitutional urgency: the clock starts ticking in Congress
The bill against the 6×1 shift has been dispatched with a resource that accelerates its passage through the Legislative.
With constitutional urgency, each house has a deadline of 45 days to vote on the text, plus an additional 10 days if the second house makes amendments. If the deadlines expire without deliberation and the urgency is not canceled, the proposal blocks the parliamentary agenda and prevents any other voting until it is considered.
The document is already registered on the legislative portal and awaits formal submission by Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), president of the Chamber.
The submission was agreed upon during a lunch between Lula and Motta at the Planalto, with the presence of José Guimarães (Institutional Relations) and deputy Paulo Pimenta from the PT of Rio Grande do Sul.
Bill and PEC will run side by side in Congress
The coordination between the government and the Legislative regarding the end of the 6×1 shift required mutual concessions. Motta was already advocating for the processing of a PEC on the subject that is underway in the Chamber and did not back down from this position after the meeting with Lula.
The agreement was that both the bill and the constitutional amendment would advance simultaneously until it is determined which of the two paths has more support for approval.
This PEC is on the agenda of the CCJ scheduled for this Wednesday (15), and the next step will be the creation of a special committee to analyze the merits. Earlier this year, Motta had already gathered under the same analysis two parliamentary proposals regarding the 6×1 shift, authored by Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) and Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG).
Both go beyond what the government proposes: they foresee a cap of 36 hours and three days off per week. According to Motta’s interlocutors, the lunch with Lula helped reduce friction between the Legislative and the government on the subject.
What the business sector thinks about the end of the 6×1 shift
Representatives from the corporate world received the bill with caution. The main fear is that the reduction of working hours will increase operational costs, harm competitiveness, and hinder the creation of new job openings.
Industries that rely on a large volume of labor, such as retail and services, argue that moving from six to five working days requires extra hiring or reorganization of shifts.
Economists validate the relevance of the debate, but caution that shortening the workweek by ending the 6×1 schedule needs to be accompanied by measures that increase productivity. In the assessment of these specialists, the necessary advancements involve more professional training, incorporation of new technologies, and improvements in logistics and the productive infrastructure of the country.
Without these complements, the concern is that the reduction in hours will only translate into higher costs for companies, without an equivalent gain in efficiency.
And you, do you support the end of the 6×1 schedule or do you believe that the change could harm the job market? Should two days off per week be guaranteed for everyone? Leave your opinion in the comments.
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