Brazilian gov't to send labor reform plan to Congress this year

Brazil's interim government pledged on Wednesday in a press conference that labor law reforms will be sent to Congress before the end of year.

Ronaldo Nogueira, Brazilian Minister of Labor and Social Security pointed out that Brazil's current labor legislation dates back to the 1940s, with new types of economic activity periodically being added. He says an update is long overdue.

"The Consolidation of Labor Laws is a patchwork which allows subjective interpretations. It will be updated in order to be simplified, so that its interpretation will be same for the worker, the employer and the judge," he explained.

Among a number of major changes include strengthening the value of collective negotiation, amending the minimum wage and the length of the work day, and making it illegal to pay end-of-year bonuses in instalments or to break up holidays.

In terms of sub-contracting issues, Nogueira added that a working group would be created to define which specialized services could be sub-contracted in order to respond to the concerns among labor unions.

Currently, companies can only sub-contract activities that do not have to do with their core business, such as cleaning or security. Endi