Retail, service and factory employees in Brazil often work six days before a day off. On Tuesday, Flávio Bolsonaro said he’d vote to end the 6×1 schedule as the legal norm. The reversal came a day before an expected Senate vote and 12 days before the presidential runoff against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Workers and the proposed change
“A maioria dos trabalhadores brasileiros quer o fim da escala 6×1,” Bolsonaro said, meaning most Brazilian workers want the schedule to end. “Então, eu vou votar a favor do fim da 6×1,” he added, saying he would vote for its abolition. Brasil de Fato reported the remarks after he visited his father.
The proposal is a constitutional amendment, known in Brazil as a PEC. Brazil’s Constitution caps the normal working week at 44 hours and the workday at eight hours. The report compared that limit with the 40-hour weekly threshold for overtime pay under U.S. federal law.
The amendment would end the 6×1 schedule as the legal norm. Bolsonaro said his camp supported “algo ainda melhor,” or something even better, but Brasil de Fato reported he didn’t explain what that alternative would be.
Employers and the Senate’s role
Companies employing people in Brazil, including U.S. retailers, manufacturers and call centres, could face new scheduling rules if the amendment passes. Firms with large hourly workforces might need more staff or overtime. Investors in New York-listed Brazilian shares, including Petrobras, Vale and Itaú Unibanco, watch labor costs and the fiscal outlook.
The amendment needs at least 49 of the 81 senators—three-fifths of the chamber—in each of two voting rounds. Senate President Davi Alcolumbre had scheduled the first round for Wednesday, 14 October, though Brasil de Fato said it might take place Wednesday or Thursday. A second round would follow.
Bolsonaro, a sitting senator for Rio de Janeiro and candidate of the Liberal Party (PL), was expected to cast his own vote. Whether the party would direct its senators to follow him remained unclear. The official Senate record didn’t confirm the new weekly-hour limit in the final text, and his support didn’t guarantee passage.
A reversal before the runoff
For months, Bolsonaro had called the proposal opportunistic and argued workers should negotiate their own hours with employers. Poder360 reported Tuesday that he’d concluded he couldn’t vote against the amendment, while still regarding the text as poorly drafted and harmful to the economy.
At a press conference in Brasília on Tuesday, 6 October, he promised an “infinitely better” alternative and said “whoever wants to work more will work more,” Estadão Conteúdo reported through O Liberal. He hasn’t said what the alternative is or whether he would seek changes after the vote.
Lula challenged Bolsonaro on Wednesday, 7 October, saying he wanted to see how he would vote. O Liberal reported Lula pressed him again on Monday and predicted most senators would support the change.
The runoff is scheduled for Sunday, 25 October, and the winner is due to take office in January 2027. The campaign also concerns relations with Washington: the report said the United States imposed tariffs of up to 50% on Brazilian goods in 2025, Flávio Bolsonaro’s family is allied with President Donald Trump, and Lula has pressed Washington to lift the tariffs.
On 13 October, betting platforms showed Flávio Bolsonaro ahead of Lula. But the report described their prices as bets, not polls, and said neither platform isolates the effect of a single campaign statement. More than US$180 million had traded on Polymarket since it opened. Bolsonaro’s vote, if cast as announced, would be one step in a constitutional process that still requires 49 senators in each of two rounds.