6x1 work schedule

an unnecessary evil

Abstract

Introduction: The 6x1 work schedule, in effect in Brazil for over three decades, represents a model that is structurally incompatible with the fundamental rights guaranteed by the 1988 Federal Constitution. This regime compromises workers' rest, health, and personal lives, causing existential harm by restricting access to education, professional training, family life, and leisure. Maintaining this schedule intensifies labor precarity and contributes to the worsening of indicators of illness and workplace accidents.

Objective: To demonstrate that the 6x1 work schedule violates constitutional principles, compromises the health and well-being of workers, and reinforces the precarization of labor relations, in addition to highlighting the need to overcome it for the realization of decent work.

Method: The research adopts a qualitative approach based on bibliographic and documentary review, articulating classic authors of Marxism, critiques of neoliberalism, and official data from the Ministry of Labor, the National Institute of Social Security, and the Observatory of Occupational Health and Safety. This combination of theoretical frameworks and institutional sources allows for a critical examination of the structural impacts of the 6x1 work schedule on the health, safety, and social life of workers.

Results: The results show that long work schedules significantly increase the rates of workplace accidents, occupational diseases, and social security expenses, in addition to affecting women more intensely, as they combine paid work and caregiving responsibilities. It is also observed that the 6x1 schedule restricts access to basic social rights, contributing to existential harm and the intensification of precarious employment. Furthermore, national and international experiences with reduced work schedules, such as the 4 Day Week Brazil project, demonstrate consistent gains in productivity, health, well-being, and work-life balance, reinforcing the viability of alternative models to the current system.

Conclusions: It is concluded that overcoming the 6x1 work schedule is an indispensable condition for promoting decent work and building more humane labor relations aligned with constitutional principles. The adoption of reduced working hours models proves compatible with social, economic, and productive gains, reinforcing the need for a structural review of the current system in Brazil.

KEYWORDS: Decent work; existential harm; work schedule; Worker health.