LABOUR-BRAZIL: ‘Flexibilisation’ Bill Reawakens Controversy

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 5 2001 (IPS) - Lawmakers are debating a legislative bill that would give the results of labour negotiations precedence over labour laws, sparking controversy about loosening the laws as a means of reducing unemployment.

The proposal, presented by Labour Minister Francisco Dornelles, was approved by the Chamber of Deputies Tuesday with a vote of 264 in favour and 213 against, marking a turnaround after failed attempts to win passage of the bill in the past two weeks.

But the victory in the lower house does not guarantee that the bill on liberalising labour standards will become law because it is running up against greater resistance in the Senate.

The initiative presented by the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government will be voted down in the upper house if the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) – with 24 senators of a total 81 – remains an ally of the leftist opposition on the matter, in spite of forming part of Brazil’s ruling coalition.

Cardoso has ordered an urgent vote on the bill, which obligates parliament to vote on the bill within 45 days from its original presentation. This generated protests and dissent, even from governing coalition partners besides the PMDB.

In the last few weeks, the lawmakers in the lower house have faced pressure from the government, exerted by Cardoso himself, and from trade unionists, who are protesting loudly against the initiative.

Some within the labour movement have taken a more aggressive, personal tack, with activists being blamed for puncturing the tyres of minister Dornelles’ car.

But the union movement itself is divided on the matter. The CUT, Brazil’s largest labour organisation, leads the mobilisation that is protesting the bill, saying the law would curb social rights and make the labour market even more precarious than it is.

Paulo Pereira da Silvia, president of ‘Força Sindical’, the country’s second leading union group, is backing the legislation, but his stance does not reflect the consensus of the union.

Neusa Barbosa de Lima, the union’s secretary for women’s policy, told IPS that Força Sindical does not support the government’s labour bill as the press have mistakenly reported.

“It is an inopportune moment… and there is no justification for the urgency” in taking a decision on such a controversial issue, which requires greater discussion with the participation of society in general, though particularly of the unions, said Barbosa de Lima, a food industry worker.

Cardoso’s demand for the rapid resolution of the matter is a prerogative the Brazilian Constitution grants the Executive Branch. In the case of the labour law, once the 45-day deadline is reached, a vote becomes obligatory so that the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate can move on to discuss other legislation.

The time limitations meant that the Chamber of Deputies’ agenda, which includes such important matters as a constitutional amendment, was held up for more than two weeks.

A final decision, in the Senate, is likely to be put off at least until March because parliament has a two-week recess and because the PMDB and the opposition have agreed to postpone a vote on the bill as long as possible.

Until then, the debate will heat up, involving economists, sociologists, attorneys and judges, in addition to the politicians and unionists.

Brazil’s College of Attorneys, or Bar, has already announced that it will file a claim before the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of the legislation – if parliament passes the labour bill.

Minister Dornelles maintains that his proposed law does not overturn any existing labour laws, but rather adds a mechanism that would allow the outcomes of negotiations between unions and employers to take precedence over several of the laws now in force.

In a labour dispute, if workers consider a proposal from the employers to be unsatisfactory or disadvantageous, they can simply reject it, and current laws would still protect them, he said.

“Flexibilisation” of the labour laws, however, foments the creation of jobs and curbs the growth of the informal sector, which employs 35 million Brazilians, said the official.

His arguments have the backing of economists and labour experts, who point out that Brazil’s labour legislation is outdated, with a core that dates back 58 years.

The bill’s defenders say that the regulation of the labour market largely through laws, instead of relying more on labour negotiations, has made Brazil a champion in the number of lawsuits pending in the Labour Justice system. Two million new work-related cases are filed each year, compared to just 17,000 in the United States and 1,500 in Japan.

But economists with links to CUT and the opposition parties point to the experience of other countries, like Germany, Argentina and Spain, where labour “flexibility” prompted rising unemployment, job insecurity, social instability.

In Brazil, the effects will be even more serious because most of the trade unions are weak, lacking presence and representation in the political arena, say many of the judges and attorneys who work within the labour justice system.

Women in particular, who are the primary victims of globalisation’s impacts on the labour market, would see their situation exacerbated if the government’s proposed law is approved, said CUT leader Barbosa de Lima.

It is not the unions, but “the Brazilian corporate sector that is not prepared to seek negotiated solutions,” because, she said, few have the socially responsible attitudes that are evident in Europe, for example.