The Brazilian Senate on Tuesday gave final congressional approval to an overhaul of the nation’s labor laws, providing political support to Brazilian President Michel Temer as he fights accusations of corruption.
Opposition senators had tried to block the vote with a sit-in at the Senate president’s rostrum, but the session resumed after a six-hour delay and in a vote on the measure’s initial reading the body voted 50-26 in favor.
After several hours of debate, the Senate then rejected any changes to the legislation, which already passed the lower house of Congress, and the measure went to the president for his signature.
“This is a victory for Brazil in the fight against unemployment and in the construction of a more productive economy,” said a tweet from Temer, who proposed the work rule changes.
“I think we passed one of the most ambitious reforms of the last 30 years,” he said.
The measure is part of a program being pushed by Temer that he says is needed to bolster the nation’s economy, which is in a deep slump.
The legislation calls for agreements negotiated between employers and workers on a range of issues to override labor regulations and it also will make it easier for businesses to hire temporary workers, even for extended periods of time.
Other legislation being promoted by Temer would cap government spending and make the pension system less costly.
Although most senators backed the labor law bill, the president’s allies did not take the opportunity during the session to speak in favor of the overhaul, which opinion polls indicate is unpopular among Brazilians.
“The Brazilian people know that this reform will not bring jobs,” said Humberto Costa, leader of the opposition Worker’s Party.
Early in the day, opposition senators had commandeered the leaders’ table on the rostrum and prevented Senate President Eunicio Oliveira and some of his allies from taking their seats.
Oliveira responded by ordering the power and microphones cut off and he adjourned the session, leading to long negotiations behind the scenes while the insurgents remained in the chamber.
After six hours, Oliveira took a seat at a smaller chair and restarted the session while having to shout to fellow senators.
The rebels soon gave up the sit-in.
Allies of the president hope the victory on the labor law bill will give the president a boost before the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, votes on whether to suspend him from office and put him on trial for corruption.
That vote is not yet scheduled.
If two-thirds of deputies should vote against Temer, Chamber Speaker Rodrigo Maia would take over presidential duties while the Brazilian Supreme Court decided whether to remove the president or find him not guilty.
The attorney general has accused Temer of accepting bribes from a meatpacking executive in exchange for helping the company obtain favorable government decisions.
Temer denies any wrongdoing.
Additional reporting by AFP
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
RSS