project to reduce working hours is reactivated in Chile

First modification: 08/25/2022 – 01:36

Reduce the working week of Chilean workers from 45 to 40 hours in five years, leaving wages intact.

This bill, presented in Congress in 2017 by Camila Vallejo, then a communist deputy and current government spokesperson, has faced various complications and was paralyzed.

This was until this Tuesday, August 23, when President Gabriel Boric announced its relaunch, also giving it “extreme urgency” to be debated as a priority in Congress. This is a provision of the Constitution that requires legislators to review a bill when the president orders it.

This project, criticized by conservatives and by the business sector, aims to give the workers of the South American country a break. “I think it’s time to fulfill (the promise) not only because many of us who promote this project are in the government, but because I see many more people present, from different sectors,” Camila Vallejo said.

Before approving or rejecting it, legislators will have to discuss a series of modifications introduced in the text by the Boric government, including the extension of the reduction in working time to workers in certain special categories, such as transport drivers. public and domestic employees.

“A project that aims to live well”

“This is a pro-family project, which aims to live well, and I have no doubt that these improvements are essential means to bring us closer to a new Chile that is more just and inclusive,” declared the progressive president in an act in the presidential palace La Moneda this Tuesday.

Among other innovations that the Government incorporated into the project, is the gradual reduction in hours over a period of five years, which will allow “the different companies, depending on their reality, to adapt to this new day,” explained the president.

“There are companies that have gone ahead and have shown that sometimes a law is not required to advance in a better quality of life, but also disposition and social dialogue,” added the head of state.

The initiative proposes a decrease from 45 to 44 working hours per week during the first year of application of the law. The second reduction will be to 42 hours from the third year, while the target of 40 hours will be reached in the fifth year.

Another of the modifications announced this Tuesday was the reduction from 30 to 27 hours per week of part-time work and the establishment in the Labor Code of an article “that allows deferred entry and exit” for workers who have minors under their care up to 12 years.

Before deciding on these modifications, the Chilean government spoke with unions and worker federations, as well as with representatives of small, medium and large companies. Boric specified that his government expects the bill to be voted on and approved as soon as possible by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The reactivation of the regulations also comes less than two weeks before the plebiscite on the constitutional proposal, which will be voted on September 4.

Chile lags far behind other member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) when it comes to working time. It is, for example, the sixth country in the world in which workers spend more time in their offices, behind Mexico or Costa Rica.

Compared to a country like France, for example, Chileans spend on average more than 400 hours at work than French people and almost 10% of employees stay at their job more than 50 hours a week.

The bill enjoys immense popular support. According to a 2019 survey, more than 75% of Chileans support the reform and more than two-thirds think it will improve their productivity.

Eff, Reuters