The approval of the end of the 6x1 scale by the Senate, on Wednesday night (14/10), resonated in the international press as a political victory for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on the eve of the second round.
The proposal was approved in two rounds, by 75 votes in favor and just one against, and could be enacted by Congress because it maintained the text approved by the Chamber in May.
"Brazilian Senate approves shorter working hours in victory for Lula", highlighted Reuters.
The agency described the measure as the biggest reformulation of Brazilian labor rights in decades and highlighted that approval hands the president an important legislative achievement less than two weeks before the October 25 election.
Reuters also highlighted the support of parliamentarians from different political camps, including Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), Lula's opponent in the second round, who previously opposed the change.
The text cited the government's estimate that more than 37 million workers with formal employment could benefit from reducing the weekly limit from 44 to 40 hours.
The Associated Press (AP) highlighted the president's expectation of strengthening his candidacy with the measure.
According to analysts and politicians cited by AP, Bolsonaro's allies stopped blocking the proposal to avoid electoral wear on the candidate given the popularity of the change.
The report also recorded that businesspeople and parliamentarians defended a ten-year transition for the implementation of the new rules.
The Guardian highlighted Lula's political victory and Bolsonaro's change of position in the face of popular support for the reform.
In France, Le Monde, in news with AFP, highlighted in the headline that Parliament approved the reduction in working time promised by Lula.
The call highlighted the president's expectation of strengthening his position in the second round and noted that Bolsonaro voted in favor of the reform, despite having opposed it.
Deutsche Welle, in a text produced with information from AP and Reuters, also presented the approval as a victory for Lula before the second round. The German outlet highlighted the reduction in working hours from 44 to 40 hours and stated that the decision could give the president a boost in the electoral dispute.
The end of the 6x1 scale is the result of a campaign launched after a video of then-pharmacy clerk Rick Azevedo went viral at the end of 2023. He was elected councilor in Rio de Janeiro by PSOL the following year and has just won a seat in the Chamber of Deputies, which he will assume in 2027.
With the impact of Azevedo's outburst on social media, the end of the 6x1 scale took on national proportions as a demand from workers, with the support of federal deputy Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP). In February 2025, she presented a PEC that was added to another, presented in 2019 by the then PT deputy Reginaldo Lopes and which had been "shelved" by Congress.
What changes with the end of the 6x1 scale
The text approved by the Senate is identical to the one approved by the Chamber in May — any change would require the PEC to be subjected to new analysis by deputies. Changes to the Constitution only come into force when the text is approved in identical form in both legislative houses.
The proposal provides that the obligation to take at least two days off comes into force 60 days after the promulgation of the constitutional amendment, a stage that occurs immediately after approval in Congress.
The reduction in working hours from 44 hours a week to 40 hours would come into force in two stages. First, there would be a reduction to 42 hours, also after 60 days. The 40-hour limit would be reached after another year.
The change also provides that benefited workers will not suffer a salary reduction.
