Brazil Cuts Work Week to 40 Hours, Handing Lula a Pre-Runoff Win

Brazil's Congress has approved a constitutional amendment capping the working week at 40 hours — a change that could affect up to 30 million workers and delivers a political victory to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva less than two weeks before the presidential runoff.

The amendment bans six-day workweeks. For some Brazilian workers, that translates into an extra day off each week. The scope is significant: Congress's own projection puts the number of workers who could be affected at 30 million.

Why does the timing matter?

The vote lands with the presidential runoff fewer than two weeks away. Lula faces far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who secured a lead in the first round of voting. Bolsonaro has held that advantage since the first-round result, and Lula has been working to overturn it before the decisive second round.

Lula championed the amendment strongly as part of that effort, according to the report. Congress's approval of the measure now gives the leftist president a concrete legislative win he can point to on the campaign trail in the final stretch.

What does the amendment actually change?

The measure amends Brazil's constitution rather than ordinary labor law. That distinction carries practical weight:

• It shortens the legal maximum working week to 40 hours.
• It bans six-day workweeks outright.
• It could affect up to 30 million workers, by Congress's count.
• It grants some workers an additional day off each week.

Because the change is constitutional, future legislatures would face a higher bar to roll it back than they would with a standard statute.

Who benefits politically?

The immediate beneficiary is Lula. The approval comes as he trails Flávio Bolsonaro, the far-right senator and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro's political family, following the first round. A legally guaranteed shorter work week for up to 30 million workers is a tangible deliverable — the kind of measure a campaign can cite directly rather than promise.

For Bolsonaro's camp, the vote narrows the space to argue that Lula's government can't pass signature legislation. Congress, not the presidency alone, approved the amendment — but the president pressed for it, and the timing does the political work.

How large is the affected workforce?

The headline figure is 30 million workers. Congress's approval of the amendment explicitly frames the potential reach at that level, which would make this one of the most sweeping changes to Brazilian working time rules in decades. Workers on six-day schedules stand to gain a full day off each week once the cap takes effect.

The report does not specify a commencement date for the new 40-hour limit, nor carve-outs for specific sectors. What is settled is the constitutional ceiling itself: 40 hours maximum, six-day weeks prohibited.

What happens next?

The runoff decides more than the presidency's occupant — it will determine whether Lula can convert this legislative win into a second term despite Flávio Bolsonaro's first-round lead. With the amendment now approved and up to 30 million workers in scope, both campaigns have under two weeks to make the 40-hour week an asset or a target.