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Oct 5, 2026
Brazil’s shorter-workweek plan nears a Senate test over jobs and costs
Supporters see the proposed end of Brazil’s 6x1 schedule as a long-overdue gain in time and quality of life, while critics and business representatives warn that the shift must account for operating costs and different sectors’ ability to adapt.
Brazil’s Senate is due to begin debating Constitutional Amendment Proposal 221/2019, which would reduce the maximum working week from 44 to 40 hours, guarantee two paid weekly rest days and bar pay cuts tied to the change. The measure cleared the Chamber of Deputies by wide margins and has already received a favorable opinion from the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee.1
For advocates, the proposal is principally a labor-rights and quality-of-life measure. Chamber President Hugo Motta said ending the 6x1 schedule — typically six days of work followed by one day off — is “getting closer every day,” describing the change as “a reform in the quality of life of Brazilians.”2 Supporters stress that the planned transition would initially lower the limit to 42 hours 60 days after enactment, before reaching 40 hours a year later, while preserving wages.
The measure’s critics and business representatives do not dispute that the Senate should consider workers’ rest time, but they have raised a different set of questions: higher labor costs, companies’ competitiveness and whether work schedules should remain subject to negotiation across industries. Those concerns surfaced during a Senate thematic session involving workers, employers, government officials and specialists.1
Senate President Davi Alcolumbre has framed the upcoming debate as an effort to balance those competing interests. “The topic, of broad relevance to Brazilian society, will be debated with responsibility, balance and respect for the different perspectives involved,” he said.3 The Senate must hold discussion sessions before votes unless lawmakers agree to shorten the timetable; final approval requires at least 49 of 81 senators in each of two rounds.3
If senators retain the Chamber’s text, the amendment can proceed directly to promulgation. Substantive changes, however, would send it back to deputies — extending a debate that has become both a prominent worker-policy pledge and a test of how Congress weighs social gains against business adjustment.