Week in Brasília will be marked by negotiations on PEC on a 6×1 scale

The week begins with expectations about the next steps of the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) which ends the 6×1 scale and reduces the maximum working hours from 44 to 40 hours per week. After approval in two rounds by the Chamber of Deputies last week, the text should begin to move the Senate, although formal analysis by the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) of the House should still take a few days.

The proposal had not yet been forwarded to the CCJ by the end of Sunday night. The president of the commission, senator Otto Alencar (PSD-BA), told CNN that the expectation is to start analyzing the topic only from Tuesday (10), which indicates that the next few days will be dedicated mainly to conversations between party leaders and behind-the-scenes coordination.

The proposal is being processed amid a dispute over which text should prevail in the Senate. While the PEC approved by the Chamber reduces the working week to 40 hours, without salary reduction, and guarantees two days of rest per week, opposition senators defend an alternative proposal, which provides for a more flexible model of reducing working hours.

The alternative text was filed by the leader of the opposition in the Senate, Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), and has already received support from more than a third of the House. The proposal maintains the discussion about reducing working hours, but establishes a model based on the number of hours worked throughout the year and provides for a more gradual transition for companies and workers.

Last week, the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), forwarded the opposition's PEC for analysis by the CCJ. The move was interpreted by parliamentarians as a sign that the Senate intends to debate different paths for changing labor rules before voting on the text approved by the Chamber.

Despite this, Otto Alencar has already indicated that the committee's priority will be the proposal that came from the Chamber of Deputies. The senator stated that he intends to first analyze the text approved by the deputies, as it has advanced further in the legislative process.

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The government's expectation is to avoid profound changes to the proposal to speed up its processing. Members of Palácio do Planalto assess that significant changes would force the text to return for a new vote in the Chamber, prolonging negotiations.

The PEC at the end of the 6×1 scale became one of the main agendas of Congress this year. The proposal gained strength after worker mobilizations and began to be defended by parliamentarians from the government base as a measure to modernize labor relations.

To be enacted, the proposal still needs to be approved in two rounds by the Senate, with the support of at least 49 of the 81 senators. The tendency, at this moment, is for the first week of proceedings to be marked by political negotiations and definition of the voting strategy, while the actual analysis at the CCJ should be scheduled for the second week of June.

Source: CNN