Workers’ Party pledges to revoke labor reform

The Workers’ Party decided to include a pledge to revoke the 2017 labor reform in Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government manifesto. The bill, welcomed by markets but lambasted by unions, consisted of reducing labor protections in a bid to encourage more new hires in the country — but it hasn’t had the desired effect.

In recent interviews, Lula said he intends to re-establish labor rights and strengthen workers’ unions once more. The 2017 reform facilitated temporary work and outsourcing mechanisms, and also made the payment of union dues optional — which crushed one of the main sources of funding for these representative organizations.

The Brazilian Report showed that big business has been trying to get closer to Lula, but the proposal to revoke the labor reform won’t sit well with the markets — even if it is merely lip service. Revoking the reform package would be no mean feat, requiring a two-thirds majority in Congress in order to alter the Constitution.

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