Bolsonaro pushes to deepen the 2017 labor reform

As Brazil’s October general election approaches, the federal government is racing against time to pass measures furthering the 2017 labor reform.

The government has promised the productive sector and business community that it will change existing rules, which are still considered too rigid by employers. There is a sense that making these changes would increase support among the business class for President Jair Bolsonaro’s re-election campaign.

The government also hopes that greater flexibility would help create new jobs, even if they are in the informal sector. Currently, almost 40 million Brazilians — close to half of the workforce — work in informal jobs. The logic is that more people in employment, even if working in precarious positions, would generate a feel-good factor that could boost the Bolsonaro campaign.

The government plans to definitively approve provisional decrees that have already introduced changes temporarily, while lining up other bills for the post-election period.

“We are going to monitor the electoral process and discuss whether to mobilize lawmakers and put forward a bill to be fast-tracked,” says Alexis de Fonteyne, leader of the Competitive Brazil congressional group, which is in favor of labor reform. 

The clock is ticking, however, as former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — the current election frontrunner — has promised to review the labor reform if he wins in October. The 2017 labor legislation is deeply unpopular among trade unions and employees, having thrown open the door to outsourcing and left millions of workers subject...