Video in which Bolsonaro criticizes labor rights is from 2019

A post made on TikTok reproduces excerpts from an old interview with Jair Bolsonaro to claim that he intends to end labor rights if he is reelected. The interview in question was given to SBT in 2019 and there are no recent records of statements by the president to extinguish rights provided for in the Federal Constitution.

The piece of disinformation, as verified by Projeto Comprova, was posted on September 6 of this year, but the president’s statements, reproduced in the post, were given to journalists Carlos Nascimento, Débora Bergamasco and Thiago Nolasco on January 3, 2019. Among other subjects, at the time, the president talked about reforms and employment.

Although the president has, in fact, stated in this interview that there are too many labor rights in Brazil, he acknowledged that he could not change some of these benefits, since they are stony clauses of the Constitution, that is, they cannot be changed even with amendments.

On the other hand, Bolsonaro said that his government intended to assess the feasibility of ending the Labor Court, proposing that labor causes should be analyzed by the common justice system. The project did not go ahead during his tenure.

For Comprova, misleading is content taken from the original context and used in another so that its meaning is altered; that uses inaccurate data or that leads to an interpretation different from the author’s intention; content that confuses, with or without the deliberate intent to cause harm.

Scope of publication

On TikTok, the verified piece had over 697.7k views, 8,542 likes, 1,068 comments, and 13,800 shares as of September 14, 2022.

what does the author say

TikTok does not allow messaging between accounts that do not follow each other. The report sought the profile of the author of the publication on other social networks, but did not find any matches until the closing of this verification.

How do we check

The verification began with Google searches for the terms “interview”, “Bolsonaro” and “SBT”. The results pointed to some moments in which the Chief Executive spoke with journalists and personalities of the station throughout his almost four years in office.

One of the videos, present on the SBT YouTube channel and dated 2019, shows Jair Bolsonaro with the same tie in which he appears in the post targeted by the check and with the same background scenario. Watching the interview, it is possible to conclude that it is the same moment reproduced in the checked video.

Comprova also sought, by email, the Superior Labor Court (TST) and the National Association of Labor Justice Magistrates (Anamatra) to question about the proposal to extinguish the specialized justice in labor issues and about actions taken by the government. that have affected the worker’s rights. There was no response to requests.

The reporting team also made contact with the Presidency’s office, which redirected the questions presented to the Ministry of Labor. The federal agency also did not return the contact.

in 2019

The statement by President Jair Bolsonaro used in clippings of the target video of the check is from January 2019, therefore, from the beginning of the term of the current federal administration. The speech took place during an interview with SBT that aired on January 3 of that year (from 9min and 6sec). Bolsonaro was inaugurated on the 1st of the same month. In the interview, the president spoke with journalists Carlos Nascimento, Débora Bergamasco and Thiago Nolasco. Among the topics discussed, he spoke about topics such as pension reform and issues involving the Labor Court.

In an excerpt from the interview, Carlos Nascimento questions Bolsonaro about the possibility of a new labor reform being sent by his Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, and whether any changes could affect workers. The journalist’s question was based on a statement made by Guedes at the time: that Bolsonaro’s administration would abandon the “fascist legislation” of the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws), in reference to the proposal to create the Green and Yellow Card.

The president replied that Guedes knew that “labor rights are provided for in article 7 of the Constitution and cannot be changed by amendment, because they are in the so-called stony clauses” and that what the minister intended to do was “to facilitate the lives of those who produce in Brazil”.

recreation

On the first day of his government, Bolsonaro extinguished the Ministry of Labor. At the time, with 88 years of experience in the country, the ministry was incorporated by the Ministry of Economy. The measure had already been announced by Bolsonaro months before assuming the presidency. In November 2018, the current president informed that the Ministry of Labor would be incorporated “to some ministry”, without giving further details. The declaration generated manifestations of servers against the extinction.

Just over two years later, in July 2021, Bolsonaro edited a provisional measure that recreated the portfolio, now as the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. On the occasion, federal deputy Onyx Lorenzoni (PL-RS) was appointed to the post of minister. According to the text that recreated the ministry, the ministry would be responsible for areas such as: Welfare, Complementary Welfare, policy and guidelines for the generation of employment and income and support for workers, policy and guidelines for the modernization of labor relations, inspection of the work, salary policy, labor intermediation, training and professional development, safety and health at work, professional regulation and union registration.

The change was part of a mini-ministerial reform made by Bolsonaro at the time. Previously, Lorenzoni was in charge of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic. When he went to the Ministry of Labor, the vacancy was filled by Luiz Eduardo Ramos. Ramos, on the other hand, was in charge of the Civil House, a position that passed to Ciro Nogueira, national president of the PP and one of the members of the centrão. Bolsonaro invited Nogueira to head the portfolio with the aim of gaining support in Congress at the time.

About the recreation of the folder, the report questioned the government about the reasons for having recreated the Ministry of Labor about two years after extinguishing it and whether there was any intention to eliminate the Labor Court. There was no return.

Green and Yellow Wallet

The Green and Yellow Card project was one of the main bets of the Bolsonaro government regarding the labor sector during its term. In recent years, there have been multiple attempts to implement it, but to no avail. Also in 2019, the president edited a provisional measure (MP 905/2019) that created the program.

The idea was to reduce company taxes to encourage hiring of young people, which could be made possible by changing some rules provided for by the CLT. The MP was even approved in the Chamber, but was not voted on in the Senate and ended up being revoked by the chief executive himself.

In 2021, Provisional Measure 1,045/2021 was presented to create a new program to reduce or suspend wages and working hours during the covid-19 pandemic. However, the text underwent several changes in the Chamber of Deputies and began to institute three new programs for generating employment and qualification, in addition to amending the CLT and other provisions. With that, the MP came to be called “mini-labor reform”. Upon reaching the Senate, the text was mostly rejected.

An article in the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, published in August of this year, showed that Minister Paulo Guedes has already shown interest in the proposal for the Green and Yellow Card to be resumed in a possible new term of Bolsonaro.

what does the government say

Comprova questioned the government, via Secom (Special Secretariat for Social Communication), about the allegation of the checked video and requested a position on the measures adopted to ensure the rights of workers. Subsequently, Secom informed that the demand would be forwarded to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. There was no return from the government after the referral made by the secretariat.

On page 15 of the document of Jair Bolsonaro’s 2022 government plan, however, located on the platform DivulgaCand Contas of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), the report found information about the president’s positions and claims regarding labor rights if he is re-elected. In the program, the chief executive states that: “the generation of employment and income must preserve basic aspects of the worker, such as occupational health, their labor rights, respect for human dignity and lead to social well-being”.

Why do we investigate?

Comprova investigates suspicious content that went viral on social media about the pandemic, public policies of the federal government and presidential elections. The post refers to Jair Bolsonaro, candidate for reelection in 2022. Misinformation during the electoral period is harmful to the democratic process because it takes away from people the right to make their choices based on true and reliable content.

Less than a month before the first round, the elections are a preferred topic for disinformation content. Comprova has already shown, for example, that it is misleading that the price of meat is associated with a plot with the PT and that Simone Tebet would take money from the poor.