A-Infos (en) Brazil, OSL, Libera #182 - THE END OF THE 6-1 WORKING SCHEME AND THE APP BLOCK HAS SHOWN THE WAY FOR THE STRUGGLE (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

DESPITE GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA, THE WORKING CLASS REMAINS IN A PRECARIOUS 
SITUATION. INDEPENDENT CLASS STRUGGLE IS THE ONLY WAY TO ACHIEVE 
ACHIEVEMENTS ---- Government propaganda praises the low unemployment 
rate and the increase in average worker income, but the numbers also 
reveal the precariousness of our working class, especially in the 
lowest-wage sectors. The Lula/Alckmin administration failed to reverse 
measures such as the Outsourcing Law and the Labor Reform, which have 
been further strengthened in recent years. On the other hand, outside 
the structure of the union bureaucracy, important struggles have been 
taking place to address this situation, such as the mobilization against 
the 6-1 work shift and the Apps Break. In the most precarious sectors of 
formal employment, the fight to end the 6x1 work shift is gaining 
momentum. Initiated by the Life Beyond Work Movement (VAT), the issue 
gained prominence on social media and gained broad grassroots support. 
At the end of last year, it reached the National Congress with a bill to 
implement a 36-hour work week and a standard four-days-on-three-days-off 
work shift. Reducing the work week is a long-standing working-class 
issue, long neglected by the union bureaucracy, entrenched in the 
institutional framework of agreements with employers. Trade unions that 
advocate class struggle, such as the CSP-Conlutas, have supported 
grassroots struggles against the 6x1 shift beyond the debates in 
Congress, but the major unions (such as the CUT itself) remain distant 
from the issue, merely waving this banner as an empty slogan, without 
any real grassroots action. Among informal workers, the "Breque dos 
Apps" (App Brake) movement is another important struggle that has gained 
ground recently. App delivery workers have been mobilizing for several 
years, with massive nationwide strikes to demand improved income and 
rights. Treated as "partners" of giant technology companies (many of 
them multinational corporations worth billions of dollars), these 
workers understand that they are exploited and that only collective 
struggle can wrest gains from those at the top.
Meanwhile, the Lula/Alckmin administration barely makes an effort to 
differentiate itself from previous administrations. Regarding the 6x1 
scale, the government's supporters limit themselves to defending the 
importance of "establishing dialogue in society"-after the discussion 
has already been brought to the table. A survey conducted by Datafolha 
at the end of last year indicates that 64% of Brazilians support the end 
of the 6x1 scale. But the "broad front" government is committed to 
employers' organizations and the financial market, which is why it does 
not embrace this crucial struggle. Regarding delivery workers' rights, 
the federal government established a working group involving unions and 
employers in 2023, but this "negotiation" has yielded no progress.
The movements against the 6x1 work shift and for the rights of app-based 
delivery workers demonstrate the importance and relevance of class 
struggle to wrest gains from those at the top. The most precarious 
sectors of the working class have realized that the government's 
propaganda doesn't fill families' bellies, much less overcome the 
country's profound inequalities.
Despite recent mobilizations, this year's May Day demonstrations fell 
far short of reflecting the working class's true aspirations. With the 
exception of a few demonstrations called by genuinely militant 
organizations, the demonstrations organized by the major trade unions 
and unions were more of the same old yellow unionism, with large 
concerts and even car raffles, accompanied by pro-government and corrupt 
rhetoric. The distance between the top brass of the union bureaucracy 
and the reality of the working class is yet another demonstration of the 
urgency of the class struggle, independent of bosses and governments.

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