No more '6x1': Brazil's Congress approves shorter workweek

Brazil's Senate has approved a shorter workweek, a pledge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is counting on to close the gap with his rival ahead of next week's election run-off.

The measure, which the government has been pushing for months, provides for two paid days off a week instead of the current one and reduces the maximum workweek from 44 to 40 hours.

The bill targets working-class Brazilians, who have historically formed leftist Lula's electoral base. Millions of Brazilians currently work six days a week, a schedule known as "6x1."

The reduction will be phased in over the next 14 months.

The vote completes the legislative process for the measure, which had already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies.

The constitutional reform passed the Senate with 75 votes in favour and just one against.

"I'm certain this is the biggest gain for Brazilian workers since the 1988 Constitution," said Omar Aziz, the senator overseeing the bill.

After the vote, a group of senators chanted in support of Lula.

Passage of the measure was one of the demands at recent mass demonstrations in support of Lula's re-election bid against the son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who had called the proposal "opportunistic," ultimately voted in favour.

"I'm travelling around Brazil. Most Brazilian workers want an end to the 6x1 schedule, so I'm going to vote to end it," he said on Tuesday.

Brazil's conservative bloc had advocated for an alternative proposal that would allow employees to negotiate their weekly working hours directly with their employers.

'Electoral opportunism'

Lula hailed the victory as a "breakthrough" that "will never be undone."

"It is a movement that began in the streets and stems from the long-standing aspirations of the working class," said the president, a former trade union leader, in a video posted online.

The 80-year-old politician seized on Bolsonaro's change of heart on the measure to direct criticism back on his rival.

"It's important to bear in mind that our opponents decided yesterday that they would vote in favour," the president said in a video posted online shortly before the measure passed. "They want to vote out of electoral opportunism."

Lula lost the October 4 first round with 45 percent of the vote to Bolsonaro's 47 percent.

The October 25 run-off is shaping up to be just as tight.

Pollster Quaest put Bolsonaro at 46 percent and Lula at 44 percent in a poll released Wednesday, a statistical tie within the margin of error of two percentage points.

Senator Veneziano Vital do Rego warned that the success of the bill depends on the election winner.

"This proposal will only remain relevant next year if we have a government truly committed to progress and social causes," he said during the vote.

While Lula has made improved working conditions a key plank of his campaign, Bolsonaro has proposed a plan to cut public spending.