Buenos Aires, Argentina – Days before the presidential runoff, Brazil’s Senate voted in favor of abolishing one of the longest workweek systems in the world.
On Wednesday, the legislators of the Upper House approved a constitutional amendment that reduces Brazil’s workweek from 44 hours to 40 hours. The law guarantees two days of rest for every five days of work, without a salary cut. The vote was almost unanimous, with 75 votes in favor and one against.
To make the change, an amendment to the Constitution was required, and therefore, two rounds of voting. However, in a rush agreement, legislators compressed the two sessions into a single meeting to fast-track the amendment. The amendment is expected to be formally put into law next week.
The schedule known by Brazilians as “6×1” (six days of work, one day of rest) is common in sectors such as commerce, gastronomy, transportation, and call centers, and it affects nearly 15 million people, according to the Ministry of Labor.
Now, companies will have 60 days from the law’s enactment to adapt to the new labor regulations. After that time, the weekly limit will drop to 42 hours and, a year later, to 40.
Brazil’s president and current Workers’ Party (PT) candidate in the October 25 run-off election, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, celebrated the Senate’s approval, highlighting that it was a campaign promise and a proposal he had fought for for decades.
“I want to congratulate the senators who voted in favor because the people deserve respect and they have earned that respect,” said the president.
The passing of the legislation is seen as a needed win for Lula, who finished two points behind his opponent, Liberal Party (PL) candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, in the first round of elections on October 4.
A Datafolha poll released Thursday shows Bolsonaro with 51% of voter intention and Lula at 49%. Meanwhile, a Quaest poll shows Bolsonaro at 46% and Lula at 44%, still a two-point difference.
A law that promises relief for workers
The movement to change Brazil’s workweek started back in 2024 with the ‘Vida Além do Trabalho’ (Life Beyond Work) movement. Its founder, Rick Azevedo, won a seat in Congress in the October 4 elections and will take his seat in the Lower House on February 1, 2027.
Brazil’s Lower House had approved the amendment in May, but the bill was shelved for several months until the president of the Upper House, Davi Alcolumbre, brought it to the floor before this year’s general elections.
For his part, Flávio Bolsonaro had resisted its approval, calling the initiative “opportunistic,” but in recent days he decided to change his mind and support the measure in the Senate after a Datafolha poll showed 71% of Brazilians in favor of the project. He voted in favor remotely from a campaign event in Porto Alegre, and his party gave its legislators the freedom to vote in favor of the measure.
“I have been traveling around Brazil and the majority of Brazilian workers want the end of the 6×1. So I am going to vote in favor of ending the 6×1 (…) we are going to vote in favor of ending the 6×1, and who is going to pay that bill is the government, because the businessmen are suffocated, they are bankrupt,” Bolsonaro told press before the vote.
For their part, business owners voiced discontent with the amendment.
The National Confederation of Industry estimated that the change could raise labor costs by up to 7%, reduce GDP by 0.7%, and increase prices by an average of 6.2%, with a greater impact on construction and small businesses.
Despite this, Lula assured that “this conquest will never be revoked, because it came from the streets.”
Now, the Brazilian people and various economic sectors will share their final verdict on the sanction and determine if it had an impact on the final result that will shape Brazil’s fate at the polls.
Featured image: Brazil’s Senate approved an amendment to the Constitution to shorten Brazil’s workweek on October 14, 2026.
Image credit: Brazil’s Senate TV
