Senate vote on labor reform in Brazil suspended

The Brazilian Senate held a special session to conduct the final vote on the labor reform this Tuesday (Jul 11). An hour after the sitting started, however, Senate head Eunício Oliveira suspended the session indefinitely. The decision came after Senator Fátima Bezerra, leading the proceedings, refused to grant Eunício his place as chair of the session.

Submitted by Congress last year, the bill changes over 100 items in Brazil's labor laws, collectively referred to as the Consolidation of Labor Laws—or CLT, in the original acronym.

The text was approved by the lower house in April, and is to be sent to President Michel Temer to be signed into law in case it is also greenlighted by the Senate.

After leaving the floor session following the suspension of the sitting, Oliveira said the vote would be resumed “as soon as the dictatorship allows it.”

CLT

The Consolidation of Labor Laws is the set of laws outlining and regulating labor relations in Brazil both in both urban and rural areas. The legislation was introduced in the period of Brazilian history known as Estado Novo, under the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas, on May 1, 1934. The content of this document aimed to protect workers from abusive labor relations, which were frequent at the time. There were no laws on working hours, living conditions, and benefits back then.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira