On August 25 and 26, FGV Projetos hosted the Commemorative Seminar of the 75 years of Labor Justice and 70 years of the Superior Labor Court, at Fundação Getulio Vargas Cultural Center, in Rio de Janeiro. The event, which attracted more than 500 people, was produced in partnership with the Superior Labor Court (TST), the Supreme Council of Labor Justice (CSJT) and the National School of Formation and Improvement of Labour Magistrates (Enamat), as well as with the Public Law Institute of Brasília (PDI), the Regional Labor Court of Rio de Janeiro and the Brazilian Labor Law Academy.FGV President, Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal, opened the event emphasizing the honor of hosting Brazilian Labor Justice. Then, he drew attention to the importance of the occasion. The seminar is aimed not only at commemoration, but also to discuss the modernization of the whole apparatus of labor relations.Also at the opening ceremony were Ronaldo Nogueira (Minister of Labor), Ives Gandra da Silva Martins Filho (Minister and President of the TST and the CSJT), Maria Cristina Peduzzi (Minister of TST, director of Enamat and honorary president of the Brazilian Academy of Tax Law), Arolde de Oliveira (Secretary of Labor and Income of the State of Rio de Janeiro), Maria das Graças Viegas Paranhos (Chief Judge and President of the Regional Labor Court of Rio de Janeiro), Fábio Goulart (Chief Prosecutor of the Regional Prosecutor?s Office of Labor of Rio de Janeiro), and Atalá Correia (IDP?s graduating courses Coordinator).Among the other authorities present at the event were Luis Roberto Barroso and Gilmar Ferreira Mendes (Ministers of the Federal Supreme Court), Emmanoel Pereira (Vice-President of the Superior Labor Court and CSJT), Renato de Lacerda Paiva (General Inspector of Labor Justice), Felipe Santa Cruz (President of the sectional in Rio de Janeiro of the Order of Attorneys of Brazil), in addition to TST Ministers Alexandre de Souza Agra Belmonte, Aloysio Corrêa da Veiga, Cláudio Mascarenhas Brandão, Delaíde Miranda Arantes, Dora Maria da Costa, Douglas Alencar Rodrigues, Guilherme Augusto Caputo Bastos, Hugo Carlos Scheuermann, João Orestes Dalazen, Márcio Eurico Vitral Amaro, Maria Helena Mallmann, Maria de Assis Calsing, Pedro Paulo Teixeira Manus and Walmir Oliveira da Costa.Minister of Labor, Ronaldo Nogueira, defended labor reform as one of the ways to deal with unemployment and economic challenges. According to him, by the end of the year, the ministry plans to send a proposal to update labor laws to the National Congress, which is being created from three perspectives - legal security, creation of employment with income and consolidation of workers? rights.Minister Ives Gandra da Silva Martins Filho, on the other hand, talked about balance in dividing the fruits of labor and capital, recalling the principles of the encyclical Rerum Novarum, written 125 years ago by Pope Leo XIII, and universally regarded as the worker?s Magna Carta. According to the minister, the vision contained in the document is not about class struggle, but about union between employers and employees in order to achieve fair distribution. Ives Gandra added that the encyclical should be a guideline for lawyers, attorneys and other professionals who seek equilibrium in labor disputes.Another subject discussed at the seminar was the adoption of alternative methods of labor dispute resolution, such as the use of arbitration and consensual means, as well as mediation and conciliation. Those could be adopted not only in collective bargaining, but also in individual cases. This aims to stimulate the mechanisms that broadly contribute to ease pressure on the labor court system and, at the same time, to give value to the role of the parties directly concerned in the conflict. Also addressed were topics such as jurisprudence and the need for reform of the pre-conciliation commission, unavailability of labor rights, and the limits of collective bargaining autonomy.A new edition of the seminar will be held on November 24 and 25, in Brasilia.To watch the first day of the seminar (August 25) click here (video in Portuguese). To watch the second day (August 26), click here (morning) and here (afternoon). Videos in Portuguese.Labor issues in the Supreme CourtDuring the event, two conferences were held on the subject of jurisprudence in the Federal Supreme Court (STF) at which STF ministers Luís Roberto Barroso and Gilmar Ferreira Mendes both gave speeches.Barroso dealt with collective bargaining in employment, discussing the 2015 trial of the so-called Extraordinary Appeal 590415. In this case, a former employee of Santa Catarina State Bank filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of broad and unrestricted clause discharging all installments due in an employment contract, after consenting to an incentivized layoff plan. At the time, the Supreme Court decided in favor of the validity of the clause, provided it was stated in the collective labor agreement, as had happened. Barroso explained that this was one way the STF emphasized the idea of ??autonomy in collective bargaining.Minister Gilmar Mendes also commented on the case recalled by Barroso and spoke about other issues involving labor matters, such as joint liability in contracting entities to provide specialized services and outsourcing of labor. For him, Brazil should observe what is happening in other countries, if it wants to be a competitive and mature country in regard to labor relations. In the minister's assessment, the consecration of labor legislation must be avoided, which, to keep in step with reality, needs updating. If the law is not updated, it no longer is an effective regulatory tool, he added.