Brazil approves a 40-hour week and two days off ten days before the runoff

Brazil’s Senate on Wednesday approved, by 75 votes to one, a cut in the maximum working week from 44 to 40 hours with no reduction in pay, ending the so-called 6x1 schedule of six working days and one day off and extending to two the days off for formal-sector workers. The reform, which according to Reuters benefits some 37 million people, comes ten days before the presidential runoff between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro.