Rio bus drivers and workers throughout Brazil demand shorter work week as lawmakers examine proposal

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Hundreds of bus drivers on strike protested in downtown Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, demanding better conditions, increased pay and an end to the six-day working week. They are also part of a broader movement of workers pushing to guarantee Brazilians two days off a week.

“You can’t spend quality time or go out with your family, give attention to your children, visit relatives, or have a day like going to a restaurant to have lunch together,” said Alexandre Garrido, 49, who has been a bus driver for 20 years.

A proposal to limit the working week to five days is currently in the hands of the Senate after approval from a lower house in May, and is backed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as part of his reelection bid in October.

Currently, many Brazilians work five eight-hour days and another four hours on a sixth day. Others have two days off but still work a total of 44 hours per week. The constitutional amendment seeks to establish a 40-hour weekly limit without reducing pay.

If approved, it would transform the lives of millions of mostly poor Brazilians and likely give a boost to Lula’s campaign. Other Latin American countries have made similar reforms, while Argentina has moved in the opposite direction.

“Those who support working six days a week are in favor of modern slavery,” said Rick Azevedo, a city councilor in Rio who attended the protest Tuesday and who founded the movement Life Beyond Work, one of the driving forces behind the measure.

In addition to the bus drivers’ strike called by a local union, which emphasizes increased pay as their main demand, Azevedo’s movement also organized protests across Brazil on Tuesday.

About 14 million Brazilians work six days a week, including 26-year-old Fernanda Sousa. Every day except Tuesdays, she makes her way down the sprawling Rocinha favela at around 5:30 a.m., drops off her 6-year-old son at his godmother’s, and takes the metro to the wealthy neighborhood of Gavea to serve Brazilian cheese bread and other snacks in a bistro.

“Going to work on a Sunday when everyone is with their families breaks my heart,” Sousa said, as she made her way home on a recent Friday night, her son in tow. She said she also struggles to balance employment and housework — a predicament shared by many women around the world but accentuated by the longer workweek.

Different studies in Brazil show workers of lower income and in lower-skilled jobs are more often bound to the grueling 44-hour schedule.

Matheus Paulo Costa da Silva, 28, works as a home furnishings store supervisor in Rio. He recently tried to attend an evening IT course, but fatigue stopped him.

“I can’t see my family, I can’t go to the gym, I can’t study. I live to work,” said da Silva.

Lawmaker Erika Hilton, who led the way for Brazil’s lower house to approve the amendment in May, said even some of her conservative adversaries now support the changes, though other opponents seek to kill the move in the Senate.

“Ending the six-day workweek allows us to care for workers who are under attack since Brazil’s slavery days,” said Hilton, in a reference to a period of almost 400 years that ended in 1888.

Workers should be able to travel, go to the beach, attend church or spend time with their friends in their spare time, she added.

Brazil’s businesses, however, are sounding the alarm. The country’s National Confederation of Industry argues the annual labor costs could jump by up to 267 billion reais ($52 billion), an increase of up to 7%, if the current workweek is reduced. That alone could slow the South American nation’s economy by 0.7%, the confederation says.

Experts say small businesses could be hit hardest. Sebrae, an institution that supports them, says they make up about 97% of enterprises in Brazil, providing half of the country’s formal jobs.

Marcelo Pierini, the 52-year-old owner of a pie restaurant in downtown Sao Paulo, is already worried. He employs five people, closes only on Sundays, and has thin profit margins.

“This change could mean one of two things: closing on Mondays and losing some profit or sharing my bill with the customers,” Pierini said. “It is hard. I want some rest too, but I can’t afford it.”

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Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.

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