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Brazil cuts work week to 40 hours in win for Lula ahead of runoff (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by to c/world@lemmy.world
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[+] -10 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

should've cut it 4 years ago if he wanted to be believable.

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  • [–] 21 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)
    1. like all democracies, Brazil has separation of powers.
    2. Legislative power rests in the Congress
    3. Lula is not the Congress
    4. Now the part that might get confusing for USians. As an actual pluralistic democracy there are several parties in the Brazilian congress.
    5. Lula's party doesn't have a majority in congress and as such needs to convince other parties to vote for its proposals to get them approved.
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  • [–] 1 point 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 child)

    PT is almost always in a coalition with PSOL, and often more fringe parties like PCdB, UP, are willing to support them with the little representation they have, there is also the "center left" (highly questionable to be willing to call the that honestly) parties that sometimes are willing to, the biggest being PSDB, sometimes PT has to give in some controversial concessions to get support, like for example with a concession to get some of their representitives to support the "Lei Felca" which is a highyl controversion law that passed that can only described as a parallel to the UK's Online Safety Act, although the former has not been enforved so far at all (AFAIK) even though it has been in effect for months, but that hasn't stopped platforms from already trying to comply with its impossible and insane text

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  • [–] 1 point 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

    Their current coalition has exactly half of the senators - so one dissident away from not being able to pass a law - and includes two center-right parties (MDB and PSD) and is in the minority in the Chamber of Deputies.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

    You know that the political process needs a lot of patience and time if you actually want to achieve something? This is not a "new development". The bill itself was introduced in April, and designing it also took some time. He also had his hands full to fix the more egregious bullshit put into place like the 20 years block on increasing health and education expenses in a growing country and the laws that allowed the wholesale firing of many employees and rehiring them as freelancers without having to pay severance, or the freeze on minimum wage that lasted 6 years without any mechanism to take inflation into account. Reducing the work week is actually one of the last promises he gave during the last elections.

    Edit: more info here: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/23/lulas-battle-for-a-40-hour-work-week/

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  • [–] 0 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    You know that the political process needs a lot of patience and time if you actually want to achieve something?

    Maybe that's the case in Brazil, but here in the US, that is patently false.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 child)

    If the US had anything resembling a real democracy i would concur, but you don't have that. The two-party system with first-past-the-post really fucks the US populations ability to get change enacted. Lula's party does not have a 2/3 majority, it has to seek partners for the laws they want to enact, and that takes time.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

    If nothing else, Donald has demonstrated that change really takes no time at all. A president just has to give enough of a damn to do it. The motherfucker literally made his second inauguration a ritual in demonstrating a commitment to change. (Shitty changes, but still change.)

    And yes, our system has been well-engineered from the start to make sure the entire governing apparatus favors the rich and powerful. I don't think that is ever going to change.

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  • [–] -4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    This.

    I'm so tired of politicians pretending to give a shit about the poor and middle class, but only during campaign season.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    As i answered you above, Lula's party has to seek partners to get 2/3 majorities to enact laws. He can't just do a Trump and do whatever they want - and that is good and healthy! (Lula himself also has been involved in Unions for decades - i am very sure that he actually cares).

    They already made sure that minimum wage has climbed around 30% over the last years and that the Health and Education System actually can get more money (there really was a law prohibiting increased spending in the health sector for 2 decades - absolutely bonkers). Still, there's a lot to do, but for a party that has to actually convince other parties to vote with them they are doing a pretty good job.

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