Brazil’s Congress has overwhelmingly approved a landmark constitutional amendment that reduces the standard working week from 44 to 40 hours while mandating two consecutive days off without salary cuts. The dramatic legislation is widely viewed as the most extensive overhaul of the Latin American nation’s labor code since the restoration of democratic governance in 1988, potentially reshaping working conditions for more than 30 million citizens.

The measure sailed through the Senate on Wednesday in an emphatic 75-to-1 vote, having previously cleared the Chamber of Deputies in May. The legislative breakthrough comes less than two weeks before a tightly contested presidential election run-off on October 25. Incumbent left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who vigorously championed the legislation, is banking on its broad appeal to erase the deficit against his conservative challenger, Flávio Bolsonaro, who led the first round of voting with 47% against Lula’s 45.2%.

The political maneuvering surrounding the vote led to a striking reversal by Flávio Bolsonaro, who also serves as a federal senator. Previously, Bolsonaro had dismissed the reform as a cynical and "opportunistic" maneuver designed by his rival to lure blue-collar voters, arguing instead that work schedules should be negotiated directly between employers and employees. Faced with surveys revealing that roughly 70% of the electorate supported the change, Bolsonaro abruptly softened his stance and cast an affirmative vote, prompting Lula to publicly decry the move as barefaced electoral posturing.

The operational rollout of the amendment will occur gradually: working hours will first be trimmed to 42 hours following a two-month grace period, before eventually reaching the 40-hour limit over the course of the following year. While labor advocates argue that better-rested workers will yield higher productivity, market critics and commercial organizations have voiced concerns that heightened labor and operational overheads will eventually drive inflation and inflate consumer prices.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk