UGT Conducts Protest for a Shorter Work Week
The demonstration on the National Day of Struggle and Mobilization for the Reduction of the Work Week and ratification of International Labor Organization Conventions 151 and 158 was a complete success.
This was the evaluation of the leaders of the six union centers who participated in the May 28 event. Marches, work stoppages, mobilizations and assemblies were held in every Brazilian state in order to make the population and national Congress aware of the importance of approving Constitutional Amendment 393/01, which would reduce the work week from 44 to 40 hours without a salary reduction.
In São Paulo, the General Workers Union (UGT), supported by other union centers, promoted demonstrations and meetings with workers in various places in the city, beginning in the morning. The high point was the gathering at the center of the City, at Rua 24 de Maio, in front of the C&A department store, where presidents of all of the union centers spoke about the importance of the mobilizations on the national day of struggle. UGT President Ricardo Patah, President of the UGT and of the Commercial Workers Union of São Paulo, said that commercial workers have the longest work week and for this reason the struggle of this union and the UGT for reduction of the work week is so important, to provide workers greater dignity, time for rest, professional training, study and family.
Since Brazil has one of the world’s longest work weeks and high unemployment, reducing the shift from 44 to 40 hours would allow the immediate creation of more than 2.2 million new jobs, above all for young people who are entering the labor market for the first time, Patah added. The reduced shift could only take place after approval of PEC 393/01.
Petition for Shorter Work Week has 1.5 Million Signatures
A petition to shorten the work week with no salary reduction signed by 1.5 million people was given to the president of the national Congress Arlindo Chinaglia, by presidents of the union centers.
The leaders of the country’s major union centers unanimously agreed that the time is propitious for reducing the work week from 44 to 40 hours. A study presented by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) indicated that 36.4% of all Brazilian workers, work more than 45 hours per week.