CHILEAN CONGRESS APPROVES 40-HOUR WORK WEEK BILL

Wed 12 Apr 2023:

In an effort to enhance the standard of living and rights of workers in the South American country, Chilean legislators have enacted a bill cutting the workweek from 45 to 40 hours.

The legislation was approved by the Senate several weeks ago in an anonymous vote, and it was then approved by the lower house of the Chilean Congress on Tuesday by a vote of 127 to 14. In a tweet, Chile’s left-leaning President Gabriel Boric praised the plan as a “pro-family project that aims at the good living of all” and indicated that he might sign it into law.

“This is a project that will contribute enormously to our quality of life,” said Labor Minister Jeannette Jara. “Yes, changes can be made to advance workers’ rights.”

Boric won the parliamentary victory on a left-wing platform pledging to increase workers’ rights, combat injustice, and promote social justice.

However, some of Boric’s larger ambitions — such as rewriting the country’s neoliberal constitution inherited from the era of right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet and making large changes to the tax code — have faced setbacks.

Aprobadas las #40Horas! Tras muchos años sumando apoyo y dialogando, hoy por fin podemos celebrar la aprobación de este proyecto que reduce la jornada laboral, un proyecto profamilia que apunta al buen vivir de todas y todos. pic.twitter.com/oIE0yiSkRp

— Gabriel Boric Font (@GabrielBoric) April 11, 2023

Tuesday’s law incrementally lowers the work week over the course of five years until the country reaches 40 hours, the standard in many industrialised nations.

However, Latin America has some of the world’s longest workweeks, averaging 48 hours in places like Peru, Argentina, Mexico, and Panama and 44 hours in Brazil.

Ecuador, a country in South America, has a 40-hour work week.

Longer work weeks also do not necessarily mean enhanced productivity: France has a 35 hour work week and has some of the most productive workers of all the countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Shorter work weeks have also been tried in other nations, with one of the biggest trials coming to an end in the UK earlier this year.

The research, which included 61 companies, discovered that four-day work weeks reduced employee stress while having minimal effect on income. After the experiment, the vast majority of the 61 companies opted to continue the practice.

According to the news agency AFP, Tuesday’s bill in Chile prevents businesses from reducing salaries because of the change and allows workers to switch to a four-day work week. However, it does not apply to informal sectors of Chile’s economy, which constitute more than a quarter of the country’s workforce.

Some businesses have criticised the initiative, saying it will place them under strain as they try to adjust, but others have welcomed the change.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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