Negociação coletiva, cortes e justiça social: horas in itinere entre a razoabilidade e o livre contrato

Abstract

The study approached the dynamics between collective bargaining, case law and social justice, using hours in itinere to analyze the prevalence of what has been negotiated over what has been legislated. In this degree, it examines how jurisprudence, particularly the one from STF and TST, has shaped the primacy of collective bargaining over labor law and influenced the deinstitutionalization of labor issues. The initial hypothesis sustains that this primacy of bargaining over legislation, initiated by the STF and reinforced by the labor reform, has affected the protection of labor rights. The research examines decisions of these courts between November 2015 and 2022 on working hours in itinere, noting a change in TST's stance after the STF's trial on issue 1046. The methodology involves an empirical research with critical analysis of the decisions, using institutional, thematic and temporal criteria for selection. The results points to a distancing of the judiciary from the defense of workers' rights, especially after the movement of valorisation of the negotiated over the legislated. This reflects a trend towards the de-institutionalization of labor issues and a greater influence of neoliberal policies, which reduce the regulatory and protective capacity of the judiciary. This change in the judiciary's stance highlights a distancing of constitutional values from the protection of workers' rights, resulting in a regulation of labor aligned with an economy disconnected from social justice.