“The union tax will not return”, says Alckmin about labor reform

The vice-president-elect, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), said this Saturday (26) that the return of the so-called “union tax”, as well as a review of the rules that gave more weight to collective negotiations on workers’ rights, are not points of the labor reform that must be revised by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

Alckmin mentioned, on the other hand, the fragility of informal workers linked to digital platforms as a point that should be debated.

“There is no reform to be undone”, said Alckmin, who spoke this afternoon during his participation in the Esfera Brasil Forum, in Guarujá (SP).

“The labor reform is important. There will be no return of union tax and no return of legislated upon agreement”, said Alckmin, to applause from the audience of businessmen.

“But we are facing a question of digital platforms that need to be verified. When you have a lunch delivery boy who doesn’t have a weekly break, doesn’t have health, doesn’t have a pension, doesn’t have anything, you have to go deeper into these things.”

A review of the labor reform, carried out in 2017, was one of the points defended by Lula during the campaign.

The overthrow of the union tax, which was the mandatory contribution of workers to the union of their category, was one of several changes promoted by the reform that revised the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT).

The end of the compulsory contribution directly affected the unions’ main source of revenue, raising criticism from labor movements for weakening the entities that represent employees and forcing the unions to reinvent their business models.

The reform also highlighted some points in which what is agreed directly between the company and the employees or their union – the “negotiated” – became worth more than what is defined by law – the “legislated” -, as long as it respects the minimum legal parameters.

This was the case, for example, with the duration of the lunch hour, which could now be at least 30 minutes, instead of the mandatory hour.

Installment of vacations, distribution of overtime worked throughout the week and the obligation or not to clock in were other topics that could now be negotiated directly between employers and employees, instead of being pre-defined by law.

These two themes of the labor reform, according to Alckmin, should not be changed.