[SENATE] Bill to Ratify Hours of Work Convention of 1919
Posted: 00:45:11 Thursday, 05 October, 2017
Fellow most honoured delegates of the Chamber, I come to you not to brawl or dispute, but to continue the peaceful spirit of the recent treaty that ensured that all of us could meet here today in peace and civility. As such, what I propose today is not a radical or extreme measure. In fact, it — namely, the introduction of a limited national eight-hour work day, specific to certain industries — is an internationally accepted reform.
What I propose is simply the Brazilian ratification of the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, which was introduced to the world stage in the distant year of 1919 by the International Labour Organisation, an agency of the League of Nations (of which we, naturally, are a dedicated member), in adherence to the specific recommendations within the annex of the thirteen section of the Treaty of Versailles, which I may remind the honoured delegates that Brazil is a signatory of. The Convention ensures the introduction of a limited eight-hour work day for certain industries.
The eight-hour work day is, again, not a radical or extreme proposal. This Convention has already been ratified and introduced into law by nations from our friends in the Republic of Chile and our ancient kinsmen in Portugal to the more exotic, such as the Tsardom of Bulgaria and the British Raj in India. Add to that that even more primitive states such as Japan and Persia have limited eight-hour work days in some areas, that major Latin American countries such as Mexico have introduced it, and that in some parts of New Zealand and Australia these regulations have bene in place form the mid-19th century and on...
And let me remind you that the first ever nation to introduce a complete, national eight-hour work day was none other than our southern neighbour, little Uruguay, under the wise leadership of President José Batlle y Ordóñez, all the way back in 1915. And all of these countries? Honourable delegates, each and every one of them have found the eight-hour work day to have strongly positive social and economic effects. Let us not be a lesser nation than our neighbours, shall we?
Thank you.
What I propose is simply the Brazilian ratification of the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, which was introduced to the world stage in the distant year of 1919 by the International Labour Organisation, an agency of the League of Nations (of which we, naturally, are a dedicated member), in adherence to the specific recommendations within the annex of the thirteen section of the Treaty of Versailles, which I may remind the honoured delegates that Brazil is a signatory of. The Convention ensures the introduction of a limited eight-hour work day for certain industries.
The eight-hour work day is, again, not a radical or extreme proposal. This Convention has already been ratified and introduced into law by nations from our friends in the Republic of Chile and our ancient kinsmen in Portugal to the more exotic, such as the Tsardom of Bulgaria and the British Raj in India. Add to that that even more primitive states such as Japan and Persia have limited eight-hour work days in some areas, that major Latin American countries such as Mexico have introduced it, and that in some parts of New Zealand and Australia these regulations have bene in place form the mid-19th century and on...
And let me remind you that the first ever nation to introduce a complete, national eight-hour work day was none other than our southern neighbour, little Uruguay, under the wise leadership of President José Batlle y Ordóñez, all the way back in 1915. And all of these countries? Honourable delegates, each and every one of them have found the eight-hour work day to have strongly positive social and economic effects. Let us not be a lesser nation than our neighbours, shall we?
Thank you.
Bill to Ratify Hours of Work Convention of 1919
Whereas the Republic of the United States of Brazil has already agreed to a national five-day work week,
Whereas the industrial workers of Brazil should not endure conditions less favourable than those in other countries,
Whereas the International Labour Organisation and the League of Nation, to which the Republic of the United States of Brazil belongs, has for the past decade championed the introduction of a limited eight-hour work day,
- Section 1. The Republic of the United States of Brazil shall accede to the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention of 1919, as defined by the League of Nations here.
- Section 2. This assembly calls upon the Most Excellent Mr. President of the Republic and the Honourable Government of the Republic of the United States of Brazil to speedily take measures to ensure that the Republic deposits its instrument of ratification and that the provisions of the aforementioned Convention enters into national law.
- Section 3. This bill shall go into effect thirty-one (31) days after passage.