Brazilians raise debate on reducing working hours through the ‘VAT movement’

A city councilor was elected in Rio de Janeiro after becoming known on TikTok for pushing a discussion on reducing working hours

Originally published on Global Voices

Rick Azevedo turned his cellphone camera on and, for one minute and seven seconds, talked about how he felt outraged by his grueling work schedule that puts workers in action for eight hours a day, six days a week, only getting one day off.

“I keep thinking, I'm someone who lives by himself, who doesn't have kids, and I can't do anything; can you imagine someone who has kids, a husband, a house to take care of? I want to know when we, the working class, will revolt against this outdated slavery called 6/1 working week?,” he said in the September 12th livestream.

His video was interpreted as a call to arms by some people online. The clip, posted on TikTok the following day, has over 1 million views a year later and ignited a movement in Brazil called VAT — a Portuguese acronym that means Vida Além do Trabalho or “Life Beyond Work.”

The movement is attempting to challenge the country's labor laws, which mandate eight-hour-long work days, plus four hours on Saturdays, adding up to 44 hours of work a week. This is usually for a minimum wage of BRL 1,412 (around USD 250) in Brazil.

Workers in industries such as commerce, restaurants, supermarkets, and call centers, among other services, are likely to be subject to this type of schedule. Some categories do have exceptions and have their own working regimes.

In the comments section on Azevedo's video, one follower said, “Usually, your day off is on a Sunday, and you can't have a medical or dentist appointment or solve anything,” while others complained, “I hate it; it feels like my life is being sucked.” Another user pointed out that people will call you lazy if you don't like this schedule because “they think it is normal to lose your life for a company.”

Azevedo himself, 30, worked for 12 years under the 6/1 work schedule as a pharmacy attendant, as he shared on the Lado B do Rio podcast. He claims the routine made him sick, causing anxiety and depression, and stopped him from studying or trying anything that could help him develop his career.

He says he left this kind of work for a while, but in July 2023, he had to get back to it without another alternative. Despairing over his situation, he turned on his camera to record the video that brought him acclaim and helped inspire a movement.

On October 6, Azevedo was elected to Rio de Janeiro's City Council with the PSOL party (Socialism and Freedom Party), the same party as Marielle Franco, the councilor who was killed in 2018 after facing and denouncing local paramilitary groups.

Rick, who received 29,364 votes, will now be working with Marielle's widow, Monica Benicio.

VAT and the law

VAT's pamphlet says they are fighting for the reduction of working hours without any cuts to paychecks or labor rights. They also maintain an active Telegram channel collecting workers’ stories.

To a follower on X (formerly Twitter) who said his power as a city councilor wouldn't allow changes beyond those for public servants’ labor rules, Azevedo shared that he had developed a “PEC” — a bill to change the Constitution — with Congresswoman Erika Hilton (also from PSOL). The proposal was announced by Hilton back in May, and it needs a certain number of signatures by parliamentarians.

Also in May, Hilton and Azevedo met with Luiz Marinho, the minister for work and employment in the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT, Workers’ Party) government, and delivered to him the movement's demands and a copy of the same petition addressed to the national congress.

The petition had gathered 1,329,085 signatures by mid-October 2024 and was a call to discuss improvement in the working conditions of Brazilians. Among the suggestions are a review of the 6/1 working model and a more balanced schedule, a public debate on labor law and how to improve the current conditions, policies to ensure a worker's right to vacation, parental license and limited overtime.

The CLT (Consolidation of Labor Law), the Brazilian labor law, has been active for over 80 years, but it has undergone changes in the last few years.

In 2017, during Michel Temer's presidency, which began after the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff (also from the Workers’ Party), a reform of the labor laws was introduced. This changed some CLT rules, including making union contributions optional, allowing vacations to be split in three periods, and enabling a working day to extend to 12 hours, with 36 hours off afterward.

The so-called Outsourcing Law, enacted in the same year, extended the allowed time for temporary jobs and permitted employers to hire workers for their primary activities under this system.

The CLT was signed by Getúlio Vargas in 1943, during his dictatorial ruling of the New State regime, which was installed after a coup, leading to its approval without passing through the national congress. Since then, workers have been guaranteed an eight-hour-long working day, weekly paid leave, paid overtime, protection from firing, and unemployment insurance, among other rights. For a while, it was said the inspiration came from fascist Benito Mussolini's Carta del Lavoro in Italy, but some claim this is a myth.

In Brazil, as in other countries, many people are facing precarious work situations because of the flexibility of labor laws and the rise of the “gig economy.” This has led to a significant increase in the number of people who have stopped looking for traditional jobs — from 1.46 million to 4.98 million between 2014 and 2019, according to data from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

The Senate news agency notes that the national congress has been discussing proposals to reduce working hours since 1995, but change has only seemed likely in the last year. In December 2023, a project was passed at one of the commissions to include in the CLT the possibility of reducing working hours without payment cuts, if determined through a previous agreement.

Senator Paulo Paim (PT), who also worked on the 1990s proposal, says:

É preciso que todos entendam que a redução de jornada só representará uma vitória se for fruto de um grande entendimento não só no Congresso e no Executivo, mas também entre empregados e empregadores. Esse entendimento é que aponta caminhos, pois o país que queremos está baseado na humanização da relação de trabalho.

It's necessary that everyone understands that the reduction of working hours will only represent a victory if it comes through a great understanding not only in Congress and in the Executive, but also between employees and employers. It's this understanding that points ways, since the country we want is based on the humanization of work relations.

Written by Fernanda Canofre