Chamber postpones vote on changes to outsourcing bill.

Chamber Agency - Agreement between party leaders postponed until next Wednesday (22) the voting on the amendments to the bill that expands outsourcing to any area of ​​companies (PL 4330/04). This is the second postponement, following appeals from leaders concerned about the lack of knowledge of the content of the amendments and the emergence of new amendments during the voting process.

The agreement was approved by the PT, the PMDB bloc, and the PSDB, PRB, PR, SD, DEM, PDT, PPS, and PV parties. The Speaker of the House, Eduardo Cunha, said that the parties committed to not blocking votes on provisional measures intended to prevent the resumption of the analysis of outsourcing, and also that they will not support any requests to remove the topic from the agenda.

The government leader, Representative José Guimarães (PT-CE), celebrated the agreement. "Common sense prevailed; a project of this magnitude requires a majority for voting," he said.

Guimarães stated that several deputies have not yet had time to understand the scope of the proposed changes. "We heard several deputies asking: what amendment is this? why this? why that?", he said. "A great deal of doubt lingered, we will talk, we will dialogue to unify the base," he declared.

Tax adjustment
The agreement did not have the approval of the PCdoB, Pros, and PSD parties. The author of the request to remove the amendments from the agenda, the leader of the PSD, Deputy Rogério Rosso (DF), asked that the issue of outsourcing only be discussed after the provisional measures of the fiscal adjustment, which alter rules for pensions, unemployment insurance, and other labor rights.

Therefore, according to him, the government and its base, especially the Unified Workers' Central (CUT), could not say that the deputies in favor of outsourcing are against workers. "First, we have to vote on Provisional Measure 665/14, because this one does deal with changes to pension rules that affect workers. We are here to defend the 12 million outsourced workers," said Rosso.

Main changes
The proposal regulating outsourcing had its base text approved last week. However, more than 30 amendments remain that aim to alter points of the project.

The main change in the labor law is the liberalization of outsourcing in the core business areas of private companies, which is currently prohibited by the Labor Courts. Companies and the public sector can only outsource security, cleaning, and specialized services unrelated to the company's core business. There is an amendment to review this change and maintain the Labor Courts' interpretation in the law.

There are also questions about which companies will be able to offer outsourced labor. One amendment aims to allow, for example, individual micro-entrepreneurs to be hired as outsourced workers. Another authorizes any commercial company to offer labor.

The responsibility of companies for labor debts owed to outsourced workers will also be debated. There are amendments to obligate the company and the labor supplier to be equally liable for the debts, in what is called joint and several liability.

In this project, liability is subsidiary, meaning the company is only liable as a last resort, when there is an audit of tax collection. If it fails to audit, it is jointly liable. Currently, Labor Courts also define liability as subsidiary.

Another amendment to be discussed reduces the so-called "quarantine" period for hiring legal entities from 24 months to 12 months, during which companies are prohibited from entering into service contracts with firms in the name of former employees or collaborators.