BRAZIL Law and Practice Contributed by: Caio Medici Madureira, Rodrigo Souza Macedo and Nestor dos Santos Saragiotto, Tortoro, Madureira & Ragazzi Advogados
mated, and it is up to the law to adapt to this new reality in an ethical and socially responsible manner.
a committee of employee representatives per state or in the Federal District shall be ensured, in the same manner as described above. The committee of employee representatives shall have the following duties: • represent employees before company manage - ment; • improve the relationship between the company and its employees based on the principles of good faith and mutual respect; • promote dialogue and understanding in the work - place in order to prevent conflicts; • seek solutions to conflicts arising from the employ - ment relationship quickly and effectively, aiming at the effective application of legal and contractual rules; • ensure fair and impartial treatment of employees, preventing any form of discrimination based on gender, age, religion, political opinion or union activity; • forward specific claims from employees within its scope of representation; • monitor compliance with labour and social security laws, collective bargaining agreements and collec - tive labour agreements; • the decisions of the employee representative committee shall always be collegial, with a simple majority; • the committee shall organise its activities indepen - dently; • the election shall be called at least 30 days in advance of the end of the previous term of office, by means of a public notice that shall be posted in the company, with wide publicity, for the registra - tion of candidates; • an electoral committee shall be formed, composed of five employees who are not candidates, to organise and monitor the electoral process, with no interference from the company or the trade union; • company employees may stand as candidates, except those with fixed-term employment con - tracts, suspended contracts or who are in their notice period, even if compensated; • the candidates with the most votes in a secret ballot will be elected as members of the employee
6. Collective Relations 6.1 Unions
A trade union serves to defend the rights and interests of workers, whether in relation to working conditions, wages, benefits or labour rights. They act as repre - sentatives of workers in negotiations with employers and government agencies, seeking better working conditions and preventing setbacks in the rights that have been achieved. In addition, trade unions have broad legal representation, meaning they can repre - sent the entire category or just a fraction of it in court. Trade unions are also responsible for entering into col - lective agreements (trade union x company) or col - lective conventions (business trade union x category trade union) in order to regulate labour relations, as authorised by the Constitution. 6.2 Employee Representative Bodies Employee Representative Committees (CRE) are bodies created by the Labour Reform (Law No 13,467/2017) to promote worker participation in the company and strengthen dialogue between employ - ees and employers. These committees are elected in companies with more than 200 employees and their main objective is to improve the relationship between the company and its employees, seeking solutions to conflicts and monitoring compliance with labour laws. In companies with more than 200 employees, the election of a committee to represent them is guaran - teed, with the aim of promoting direct understanding with employers. The committee will be composed of the following: • in companies with more than 200 and up to 3,000 employees, three members; • in companies with more than 3,000 and up to 5,000 employees, five members; and • in companies with more than 5,000 employees, seven members. If the company has employees in several states of the Federation and in the Federal District, the election of
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