According to Reuters, the Brazilian Senate passed a constitutional amendment on October 14 local time, reducing the number of working days per week from six to five. This legislative achievement brought an important victory for President Lula, less than two weeks before the second round of voting in the Brazilian presidential election.
This amendment was approved by the Brazilian House of Representatives in May this year, and now it has been passed by the Senate as well. This change will reduce the maximum weekly working hours for the largest economy in Latin America from 44 to 40 hours per week. It will also effectively end the practice in industries such as retail, where formal employees are commonly required to work six days a week.
This move marks the largest labor rights reform in Brazil in decades. According to government estimates, the new rules will be implemented gradually over 14 months, benefiting more than 37 million regular workers.
Lula posted on social media platform X on the 14th, calling this amendment a victory for workers. "This means there is more time to live, rest, spend time with family, watch children grow up, take care of oneself, and enjoy life."
Lula, who is fighting for his fourth presidential term, and his government have been vigorously promoting this reform. His opponent, Flavio Bolsonaro and his affiliated Liberal Party have long been opposed to it, believing that the reform aims to increase Lula's chances of being re-elected.
However, just one day before the Senate vote (on the 13th), Flavio Bozzano finally changed his position, stating that he would vote in favor of reducing the working hours by one week.
According to The Guardian, Victor Escobar, a researcher at the Party, Elections and Comparative Politics Research Laboratory at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, said that this reform 'could indeed benefit Lula's re-election campaign'.
In the first round of voting for the 2026 Brazilian presidential elections, the votes were cast on October 4. Flavio Bolsonaro came out on top with about 47% of the votes, while Luiz Inacio Lula Jr. ranked second with around 45% of the votes. Since no candidate received more than half of the valid votes in the first round, a runoff election will be held on October 25.
According to a latest survey released by Brazilian research organization Quaest on October 14th, Flavio Bozonaro has a support rate of 46%, while Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has a support rate of 44%.
