End of the 6x1 schedule

1. 1

   September 2023. Rick Azevedo, a pharmacy clerk in Rio, posted a TikTok rant against the 6x1 schedule and opened a group that filled up within days.

2. 2

   Over 2 million signatures by November 2024. VAT's petition and Erika Hilton's constitutional amendment put the 6x1 schedule on the national agenda.

3. 3

   70% of federal deputies opposed the change in 2025, according to Quaest. On 27 May 2026, the Chamber of Deputies passed it 472 to 22.

4. 4

   75 to 1 in the Senate on 14 October 2026. Constitutional Amendment 141, enacted on the 16th, guarantees two days off and a 40-hour week.

5. 5

   The transition takes 14 months: 42 hours within 60 days, 40 hours a year later. Industry and retail forecast high costs; the state think tank Ipea disagreed.

Copy summary

If you're new to this, start with the fundamentals, from the vote goal to what the research says. Read the fundamentals

In 2024, ending 6x1 was not even on the union federations' list of demands. It came in through a video rant. In just over three years, it went from a WhatsApp group to a constitutional amendment, passed by a Congress whose majority had opposed it in 2025.

75 to 1

Senate votes, in both rounds, on 14 October 2026official Source

472 to 22

Chamber of Deputies votes in the first round, 27 May 2026 (461 to 19 in the second)official Source

70%

of federal deputies opposed ending 6x1 in a Quaest survey in May and June 2025study Source

14.9M

workers on the 6x1 schedule, according to Labor Ministry data cited by the governmentofficial Source

From the counter to the Constitution

1. Sep 2023Rick Azevedo, a pharmacy clerk in Rio, posts a TikTok rant against the 6x1 schedule. He sets up a WhatsApp group that fills in under a week and gives VAT its name.
2. Jan 2024The petition on Petição Pública passes 500,000 signatures. The movement hands out leaflets and plans rallies in São Paulo and Brasília.
3. May–Oct 2024Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) starts collecting signatures for a 36-hour amendment. In October, Rick Azevedo is elected to Rio's city council for PSOL with about 29,300 votes.
4. 11–13 Nov 2024The issue explodes online. The amendment goes from 134 deputies' signatures to 194 in two days; the petition passes 2 million. The Labor Ministry says 40 hours is possible through collective bargaining.
5. 15 Nov 2024Protests on the Republic Day holiday in several state capitals, called by VAT online. The union federations back them in a letter but argue for a gradual cut, sector by sector.
6. Feb–May 2025PEC 8/2025 is filed on 25 February with 210 confirmed signatures. The opposition gathers signatures for a rival amendment allowing a flexible regime based on hours worked. The federations make ending 6x1 a May Day theme, and the Plebiscito Popular (people's plebiscite), launched in April, adds the question. By 12 October it had gathered 2.1 million votes, according to its organizers; see the case Tax justice in Brazil 2025.
7. 14 Apr 2026Lula sends Congress a bill under constitutional urgency to replace 6x1 with 5x2, at 40 hours and with no pay cut.
8. 27 May 2026The Chamber opts for the amendment route: it merges PEC 221/2019 and PEC 8/2025 into a 40-hour text with a transition and passes it 472 to 22 and 461 to 19. A last-minute PL move to restore the 4x3 model is defeated.
9. 14 Oct 2026The Senate passes it 75 to 1 in both rounds on the same night, without changes. The only vote against comes from Hamilton Mourão (Republicanos-RS).
10. 16 Oct 2026Congress enacts Constitutional Amendment 141/2026, with Lula and Hugo Motta present. The 5x2 schedule and 42 hours apply within 60 days; 40 hours a year after that.

Three layers

No single organization pushed the issue. These are different actors, with their own interests and calendars, and the sources do not show how much each one weighed in the vote.

• The movement and the creatorsVAT, with a founder who is a content creator, state groups with coordinators, leaflets, a petition and street protests. It was born outside the unions and the parties.
• The alliesLawmakers who carried the issue into Congress (Erika Hilton and PSOL with PEC 8/2025, Reginaldo Lopes and PT with PEC 221/2019) and the union federations, which came in more strongly from 2025.
• The institutionsThe government, which in 2024 talked about collective bargaining and in 2026 sent an urgent bill; and Congress, where a deal between the government and the center, with Speaker Hugo Motta and rapporteur Léo Prates, set the final text.

What was specific to Brazil in 2023–2026 and may be missing elsewhere.

Platforms

TikTok

Where it all began. By January 2024, Rick Azevedo's account had over 130,000 followers and 1 million likes, with short videos about life behind the counter.

Instagram

The movement's second network: in October 2024 the press counted 180,000 followers on VAT's account and over 200,000 on Rick Azevedo's. It carried the issue to people who were not on TikTok.

WhatsApp and Telegram groups

The first WhatsApp group filled up in less than a week and gave the movement its name. State groups followed, each with a coordinator.

Petição Pública

The petition to Congress was hosted on the Brazilian site peticaopublica.com.br and worked as a public counter of support.

Leaflets and street protests

Weekly leafleting in cities and protests on national holidays, such as 15 November 2024, paid for with donations for printing.

The Chamber's signature system

A constitutional amendment (PEC) can only start moving with 171 deputies' signatures. The list is public, and in November 2024 the press tracked it name by name.

Local conditions

• Until 2026 the 6x1 schedule was legal and common in retail, services, industry and logistics: the government estimated 14.9 million workers on it.
• The 44-hour cap had been in the Constitution since 1988; changing it took a constitutional amendment, with three-fifths of the votes in two rounds in each house.
• Many people work more than 40 hours: 47% of employees at the end of 2024, according to IBGE data compiled by the union research body Dieese.
• Union density has been falling, the 2017 labor reform widened flexible hours and few collective agreements set a 40-hour week (16% between 2010 and 2020).
• The issue crossed the electoral calendar: Rick Azevedo was elected councillor in 2024 and federal deputy in 2026, and the final vote fell between the two rounds of the 2026 presidential election.
• The cause was popular: 71% backed ending 6x1 in Datafolha's 3 to 5 March 2026 poll (64% in December 2024). In May, with a different question, Datafolha measured 64%.
• In Congress, most started out against: 70% of deputies rejected the change in Quaest's May–June 2025 survey.

VAT had no money, no office and no union structure. It had a grievance with a short name, 6x1, that millions recognized, and a cheap way to organize the people who agreed.

Three fronts

Name the grievance

The schedule had a technical name every retail worker understands. The video started from an everyday case (his boss calling on his day off to ask him to come in early), not from a political program.

Count the support

A petition to Congress gave a public, growing number, and the list of deputies signing the amendment became a scoreboard the press followed.

Organize the newcomers

State groups with coordinators, weekly leafleting and protests on holidays took the issue from social media to stations, shop doors and squares.

The campaign cycle

The cycle below describes what the sources record between 2023 and 2026. Where a source gives no rhythm, the playbook does not invent one.

1. Vent on video A short personal case, with the name of the schedule and a question to everyone: how much longer?
2. Open the door A group for people who saw themselves in it and a petition with a clear addressee: Congress.
3. Split by state When the group fills, open state groups and give each one a coordinator.
4. Take it to the street Leaflets paid for with donations, handed out every week, and protests on national days off.
5. Take it inside An allied lawmaker turns the issue into an amendment that needs 171 signatures; the movement helps apply pressure.
6. Show the scoreboard Petition and amendment signatures announced at every milestone, to show growth.
7. Widen the coalition Federations, parties and finally the government take up the issue, each with its own agenda.
8. Vote and watch Follow the text that comes out of the deal and the transition rules, and demand enforcement after enactment.

And again.

This playbook draws on what the organizers themselves wrote and said: Rick Azevedo's interviews from 2024 to 2026, statements by Erika Hilton and the authors of the proposals in Congress, and studies by labor researchers who followed the movement and the union federations. The government and the parties appear separately, in their own layer.

• Rick Azevedo

  Founder of VAT and its national coordinator in 2024; Rio de Janeiro city councillor for PSOL (elected 2024) and federal deputy-elect for PSOL-RJ since October 2026

  Recorded the September 2023 video, set up the first group and the petition, and was elected councillor with about 29,300 votes and R$60,000 in party funding.

  Sources

• VAT state coordinators

  WhatsApp and Telegram groups by state, each with its own coordinator

  Organized weekly leafleting, promoted the petition and collected donations for printing and for the founder's travel.

  Sources

• Erika Hilton

  Federal deputy for PSOL from São Paulo, re-elected in October 2026; author of PEC 8/2025

  Opened signature collection in 2024 for an amendment setting a 36-hour, four-day week, passed the required 171 on 13 November 2024 and filed the text on 25 February 2025.

  Sources

• Reginaldo Lopes

  Federal deputy for PT from Minas Gerais, author of PEC 221/2019

  Filed the 2019 amendment to cut working hours which, merged with Erika Hilton's, became the text passed in 2026.

  Sources

• Léo Prates and Omar Aziz

  Rapporteurs in the Chamber (Republicanos-BA) and the Senate (PSD-AM)

  Prates wrote the 40-hour text with a 14-month transition, approved 34 to 4 in the special committee; Aziz reported it in the Senate without changes.

  Sources

• Union federations (CUT, Força Sindical, UGT, CSB, NCST)

  National federations of workers' unions

  In November 2024 they backed the street protests in a joint letter but proposed a gradual, sector-by-sector cut; in 2025 they made ending 6x1 a May Day theme.

  Sources

What the organizers said about the decisions they made. Paraphrased unless otherwise noted.

• The video came out of his anger at a day-off swap at the pharmacy; he compared the 6x1 schedule to modern enslavement.

  Rick Azevedo, VAT founder, Firma Preta, Existe vida além do trabalho?, 16 Jan 2024

• “I wanted to vent, to complain, I was upset.” Only later did he post more videos on the subject.

  Rick Azevedo, VAT founder, NSC Total, 28 May 2026

• The goal was to remove the 6x1 schedule from the labor code; the next steps would be a rally on Avenida Paulista, another in Brasília and a public hearing in Congress.

  Rick Azevedo, VAT founder, Firma Preta, 16 Jan 2024

• The movement was created by workers and for workers and must not become merely partisan.

  Rick Azevedo, councillor-elect, Brasil de Fato, republished by Outras Palavras, 18 Oct 2024

Pick the moves that fit your context and add them to your kit.

1. A rant with a short name

   A first-person video about a concrete case from the week, using the name everyone uses for the problem, with a clear ask. In Brazil, Rick Azevedo's September 2023 rant about 6x1 gave rise to VAT.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when the grievance is common, has a recognizable name and the speaker lives the problem.

   Don't use when

   It fails with an abstract cause, a spokesperson who does not live the problem or a video with no call to action.

   1. Week −60 Write the case in three sentences: what happened, the problem's name, the cost
   2. Week −60 Shoot it on a phone, one minute at most, with the ask at the end
   3. Week −60 Have the petition and group links ready before posting
   4. Week −59 Post and reply to comments with the group link
   5. Week −58 Record a second video with the stories that came in, with permission

   Team

   • Public voice: someone who lives the problem and records
   • Moderation: replies to comments and sends the group link
   • Support: checks permission before using other people's stories

   What to measure: People who joined the group or signed the petition in the week of the video, counted on the list, not views.

   Risks to watch: Exposure and harassment for whoever records and whoever tells the story about their boss: do not name the company or colleagues without consent, and prepare the public voice for attacks.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

2. Groups by area, each with a coordinator

   When the first group fills, open groups by state or city, each with a coordinator who organizes leafleting and protests. VAT did this on WhatsApp and Telegram and kept up weekly leafleting.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when more people want in than one group can hold and some are willing to coordinate locally.

   Don't use when

   It fails if coordinators have no autonomy or the group becomes message forwarding with no street action.

   1. Week −58 Open the first group and a form asking for city and consent
   2. Week −56 Open state groups when the first one fills
   3. Week −55 Pick a coordinator for each group and write house rules
   4. Week −54 Create the same group on a second app as a fallback
   5. Week −52 Schedule the first weekly leafleting in each state
   6. Week −48 Collect the leafleting logs once a month

   Team

   • National coordination: links the groups and sets the week's action
   • State coordination: schedules leafleting and protests
   • Finance: collects donations for printing and publishes the accounts

   What to measure: Leafleting sessions held per week in each state and volunteers present, recorded in the leafleting log.

   Risks to watch: Group members' data is personal and reveals political views: ask for consent, do not export lists and remove anyone who shares colleagues' data.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

3. A public signature scoreboard

   Announce at each milestone how many people signed the petition and how many lawmakers signed the proposal. In November 2024, Erika Hilton's amendment went from 134 to 194 deputies' signatures in two days, with the press following the list.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when the proposal needs a minimum number of signatures and the list of signers is public.

   Don't use when

   It fails with inflated or unverifiable numbers, or when it turns into hounding lawmakers.

   1. Week −30 Find out how many signatures the proposal needs and who can sign
   2. Week −28 Build the public list of who has signed, using the official source
   3. Week −26 Publish the number at each milestone, with the date
   4. Week −26 Ask each supporter to write to their own state's lawmaker
   5. Week −25 Thank signers publicly
   6. Week −24 Announce when the minimum is reached and what the next step is

   Team

   • Monitoring: checks the official list and updates the scoreboard
   • Communication: posts each milestone with date and source
   • Parliamentary link: talks to allied offices

   What to measure: Messages sent by supporters to their own state's lawmakers, counted through the form, and new lawmaker signatures confirmed on the official list.

   Risks to watch: Pressure becomes harassment when it exposes addresses or family: press for the vote and the signature through official channels, never private life, and correct any wrong number at once.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

4. A national protest on a day off

   Hold protests in several cities on a day when working people are off, called online with city, place and time. VAT called protests for the 15 November 2024 holiday, and the union federations took the cause to May Day 2025.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when local groups already exist and the issue is trending.

   Don't use when

   It fails if held on a working day for the very people on the schedule you want to change, or without local coordination.

   1. Week −4 Pick a holiday or symbolic date when most people are off
   2. Week −3 Confirm coordinator, place and time in each city
   3. Week −2 Notify the authorities as local law requires
   4. Week −1 Publish the list of cities and update it as others confirm
   5. D-day week Hold the protest with signature collection and group sign-up
   6. 1 week(s) after Publish a city-by-city wrap-up without inflating numbers

   Team

   • Local coordination: venue, safety and welcome team
   • Communication: call-out, city list and wrap-up
   • Sign-up: signatures and group joining at the protest itself

   What to measure: People who signed or joined a local group during the protest, counted by the sign-up team in each city.

   Risks to watch: Small protests look like weakness and big ones draw conflict: choose venues that match your network, have a safety team and give crowd estimates with a source.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

5. Watch the text and the transition

   Read the text that comes out of the deal, explain in plain words what changes and when, and open a channel for workers to report non-compliance. The 2026 amendment gave 60 days for 5x2 and 42 hours, and another year for 40 hours.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works after the vote, when the risk becomes the law not reaching the workplace.

   Don't use when

   It fails if it promises immediate effect or rights the text does not grant, or names companies without checking.

   1. D-day week Read the final text and sort what applies now, in 60 days and in 14 months
   2. 1 week(s) after Publish a plain summary with the dates and the exceptions
   3. 2 week(s) after Open a reporting form with consent and anonymity
   4. 4 week(s) after Pass the reports to unions and labor inspectors
   5. 6 week(s) after Follow the pending implementing rules in Congress
   6. 9 week(s) after Publish a public review as each deadline passes

   Team

   • Legal reading: translates the text and the exceptions
   • Intake: receives reports and says where to turn
   • Link with unions and labor inspectors

   What to measure: Non-compliance reports received and passed to a union or labor inspectors, recorded in the form.

   Risks to watch: Reports can expose workers to retaliation: keep them confidential, publish only aggregate data and never accuse a company without checking.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

What VAT used, laid out for you to adapt. It suits a labor, housing or transport cause that starts from a common grievance and needs to end in a law.

What works anywhere and what depended on Brazil in 2023–2026.

Choose your country

A sequence based on VAT's path, from the first video to enforcing the law, as a checklist. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Five questions, each explained after you answer.

The rules below protect the campaign's credibility.

Data of signers and group members

Ask for consent, say what the data is for and do not pass it to parties or candidates. Political opinions and union membership are sensitive data under the GDPR and Brazil's LGPD.

Keep movement and candidacy apart

When a spokesperson becomes a candidate, the movement's list cannot become a campaign list, and donations to the movement cannot fund the candidacy. Follow your country's election law.

Pressure without harassment

Press lawmakers on their votes and signatures through official channels. Never expose addresses, family or private life.

Real people only

No fake profiles, made-up signatures or bots to inflate the petition. One inflated number discredits all the others.

Stories with consent

When telling stories about colleagues or companies, ask permission and do not identify anyone who could face retaliation.

Numbers with source and date

Publish signatures, scoreboards and crowd estimates with source and date. Correct mistakes in public.

Transparent donations

Say how much came in and what it was spent on, even for an informal collection for leaflets.

Local law

Rules on protests, official petitions and leafleting vary by country. Check before you set a date.

It does not prove mobilization won the vote

Between 2025, with 70% of deputies against, and 2026, with 472 votes in favor, came the government's urgent bill, 71% public support in Datafolha's March poll and an election year. An analysis by the law firm Mayer Brown credits the win to mobilization; the industry confederation CNI and Fiesp saw electoral motives. No data separates the factors.

It did not secure the original proposal

VAT and PEC 8/2025 asked for 36 hours over four days; the text passed set 40 hours over five, with a 14-month transition, exceptions for graduates earning at least 2.5 times the social security ceiling, and no application to the public service. A complementary law may still set transition measures for micro-entrepreneurs and small firms.

It does not settle the cost dispute

CNI estimated up to R$267.2 billion a year in extra costs and a 0.7% fall in GDP; the commerce confederation CNC, a 21% rise in labor costs; an FGV/Ibre simulation cited by CNI spoke of a GDP drop of up to 11.3%. Ipea estimated an average 7.8% rise in labor costs and noted that minimum wage increases had not cut employment. Small firms may need support.

It does not cover people without a contract

The amendment changes hours for formal employees. Informal workers, such as many delivery riders and app drivers, are not addressed in the text read; Rick Azevedo said unions need to update themselves to reach them.

It leans too much on one voice

The movement became tied to one person who later entered party politics. The sources show no second spokesperson with the same reach.

It does not replace the unions

VAT was born outside them and the federations came in late, but policing the transition and negotiating sectors with their own rules runs through collective agreements and labor inspection.

This playbook was built from Rick Azevedo's interviews, lawmakers' statements, studies by labor researchers and reporting published between January 2024 and October 2026. All pages were accessed on 29 October 2026.

Updated 29 October 2026