By FRANCISCO ALANO*

Workers are reaching their limit of tolerance. That is why it is not surprising that there has been a great response and engagement, especially among young workers, to the project and campaign to end the 6 x 1 work shift.

1.

The new world of work has only benefited those who control the means of production and the capacity to invest, as a result of the accumulation and concentration of wealth and the exploitation of labor.

The precariousness of labor relations has become increasingly more serious in recent years, especially after the labor and union reforms of the government of Michel Temer, in his project A Bridge to the Future, and further deepened in the government of Jair Bolsonaro.

According to some statistics, more than 40 million workers are in the informal sector or are engaged in precarious activities, such as work on digital platforms, pejotization, intermittent work, fake work cooperatives, outsourcing, among other types of employment relationships.

In the activities we represent (commerce and services), labor exploitation has increased significantly, as a result of low pay, long working hours, work on Sundays and holidays, moral harassment, inhumane treatment of workers, as happened recently in one of the branches of Supermercados Imperatriz, Rio do Sul branch, which was convicted in a labor lawsuit filed by an employee for frequently being prevented from going to the bathroom to relieve herself and even to change her sanitary pad.

The working hours of the commercial category, often twelve, thirteen to one, in addition to the disrespect for the 1 to 1 rest period (work one Sunday and rest the next) for women, provided for in article 386 of the Consolidation of Labor Laws, use of time banks, almost always requiring exhausting working hours, without payment of overtime.

In the 1988 Constitution, we managed to reduce the official working week from 48 to 44 hours, a working week that has lasted for more than 37 years. On the other hand, in many activities, including commerce, the gains in production and productivity, resulting from work, have increased many times more, however, the purchasing value of wages remains the same or even lower than those practiced before 1988.

The situation of these workers has worsened even further, with the increasing number of commercial establishments, especially supermarkets, wholesalers and department stores, opening hours at 6:00 a.m. and closing at midnight.

The workers in these establishments invariably earn poorly and live on the outskirts of our urban centers, in precarious housing, especially because they earn poorly and rent is expensive. To get to work at 6:00 a.m. they have to be up between XNUMX and XNUMX a.m. and when they work the afternoon and night shifts, they only get home between XNUMX and XNUMX a.m.

More specifically, the remuneration of these workers is another reality that must be discussed and treated very seriously by the labor movement. Retail workers, street stores and shopping centers receive their remuneration based on commissions for the sale of products or services sold. These are paltry percentages that force workers to work hard to earn a salary at the end of the month that is often insufficient for their survival. Many of these companies also use the method of paying bonuses for achieving sales targets. These are almost always unattainable targets, which, despite the great efforts of the salespeople, end the month without receiving this bonus.

Pay has also decreased considerably for workers in physical stores, as online sales have increased rapidly in recent years, suppressing sales for these workers and consequently reducing their pay.

2.

Workers with fixed salaries survive on extremely low wages. The average wage negotiated in Collective Bargaining Agreements in Santa Catarina for workers in commerce, industry and services is around R$1.800,00 per month. This means that the daily net salary, minus transportation allowance and social security contributions, is around R$50,00. In practice, these workers receive 25% of the constitutional minimum wage calculated by Dieese, which is currently around R$7.200,00 to cover their needs, such as food, leisure, health, education, transportation and housing.

Regarding the cashier function in commercial establishments, exploitation, moral harassment, remuneration and the benefit of modernizing work instruments are even more visible. These workers are often affected by diseases such as read dort, due to the repetitive movement of thousands of product registrations, urinary tract diseases due to the prohibition of using bathrooms for physiological needs and deep anxiety due to the need to serve long lines of customers.

A supermarket cashier who 20 or 30 years ago would register a certain number of products, because he or she had to manually type in the price or code, today with barcodes he or she registers ten times more, causing physical, mental and emotional exhaustion to these workers. This is an example of how new technologies only benefit capital, because in addition to the employee receiving the same or even less pay compared to 30 years ago, there is also pressure on unions to give up the so-called cash break, which today pays for the arduousness of the job.

Another consequence of the implementation of new technologies in commerce is the reduction in the number of cashiers and labor. In addition to the speed of registering goods, many commercial establishments are implementing self-service and smart carts where customers register the goods and pay for their purchases themselves.

Businesspeople complain about the low qualifications of the workforce, low productivity and the lack of commitment of workers to the business enterprise. They forget about the poor living conditions of workers, the impossibility of attending schools for intellectual and professional training, the hours they work, the remuneration they receive and the lack of initiative of companies in training qualified workers.

Due to this entire set of labor exploitation policies, a significant portion of workers, in some companies reaching 30%, are suffering from occupational diseases, such as read dort, anxiety, depression, panic syndrome, accidents at work and on the way.

It is estimated that the surplus value in trade resulting from all this exploitation is frighteningly high. With the economic result of the work of a single employee, the company pays the expenses with the cost of this worker and also pays the cost of three to four more workers. In this sense, the company buys the labor force of its workers, and instead of taking its profit from the goods produced or sold, it still makes a considerable profit from the exploitation of labor, instead of paying better wages.

ACATS (Santa Catarina Supermarkets Association) invited me at the time of the Constituent Assembly, to a debate on the proposal to increase the length of maternity leave.

My thoughts on the subject were that business owners should protect these pregnant mothers, since most of them are poor workers and are generating cheap labor for them to exploit. I also recalled that, according to studies published by Folha de São Paulo, a family spends around R$20 to give birth, care for, and provide education for a son or daughter, in order to place them in the job market, after 700.000,00 years of existence.

The entrepreneur hires this workforce and does not pay a single cent of compensation, indemnity or interest on the amount invested to the family that prepared them for the market. They also pay demeaning salaries at the end of each month, which in most cases do not even cover basic needs such as food, leisure, housing, health, transportation, education, etc.

Drawing a parallel between the current reality and the times of slavery in our country, the sugar mill owners of the colonial period paid significant amounts to compensate the costs of those who provided them with slave labor and today this is completely ignored, despite the high investments or expenses to train a child for the job market.

3.

Finally, I would like to point out that the trade union movement is experiencing one of the worst moments in its history, especially since the union and labor reforms implemented by the government of Michel Temer, which were deepened by the government of Jair Bolsonaro. In addition to eliminating several workers' rights, they implemented measures to make labor relations more precarious, imposed measures to dismantle the union organization of workers, and eliminated or hindered their sources of revenue.

Trade unions, particularly in our state, have suffered and continue to suffer relentless persecution by a portion of the business community, practices that are recognized as Nazi-fascist. These business owners advise their workers not to contribute to their unions and, going further, encourage these workers to reject any type of union action or any rapprochement with their union. Due to this anti-union practice by Santa Catarina business owners, unfortunately, workers have elected union leaders and their unions as their enemies, and the same is true of unions that also elect workers as their enemies.

Workers are reaching their limit of tolerance. In January of this year, CAGED showed that 37,9% of job terminations were at the request of the worker, and among professionals with incomplete or complete higher education, this figure reached 45%. The profile of these workers is: younger, women and salespeople. The main reasons for asking to leave are new positions in sight, mental health problems, ethical issues in companies, long working hours, inflexible schedules, toxic bosses, working on weekends, at night and on holidays, and 6 x 1 work shifts, with only one day off per week.

That is why we are not surprised by the great impact and engagement, especially among young workers, in the project and campaign to end the 6 x 1 work shift (six days of work for one day of rest). It is time for change, workers can't take it anymore.

Measures needed to be implemented in the capital-labor relationship: (i) Immediate reduction of the working day. (ii) Significant and urgent increase in workers' pay, setting the constitutional minimum wage as a target. (iii) Repeal of the labor reform implemented by the government of Michel Temer and deepened by Jair Bolsonaro. (iv) Repeal of all precarious measures implemented by neoliberal governments. (v) End of work on Sundays and holidays. (vi) Elimination of all causes that result in occupational diseases.

(vii) Permanent campaign to politicize workers. (viii) Urgent discussion about our union organization. (viii) Elect government officials and members of parliament committed to the changes that are in the interest of workers. (ix) Urgently create digital channels of communication with workers. (x) Establish policies to bring the union closer to the category. (xi) Hold debates, courses, and seminars for the category. (x) Actively participate in the actions and struggles of the CUT.

*Francisco Alano is president of the Federation of Commerce Workers in the State of Santa Catarina.

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